Oct. 27, 2008

IRVING, Texas - Tulsa's Rachel Vukson dished out a Conference USA weekly-best 13.12 assists per set to earn Setter of the Week honors. Co-Offensive Player of the Week accolades went to Memphis' Emily Underwood and Tulsa's Jennifer Eichler. Both guided their teams to 2-0 records for the week for their first C-USA weekly honors. Underwood, who's ranked third in the nation in blocks per set, led the team with 36 kills, 4.00 kills per set and a .508 hitting percentage. Eichler landed a C-USA weekly-best 5.5 kills per set and the second-most total kills with 44.

Tracey Lam of Rice and Memphis' Christine Bash have been named Co-Defensive Players of the Week. Lam has earned the award four times this season, while this is Bash third accolade. Lam produced a C-USA weekly-best 57 digs and averaged 4.75 dig per set. Bach averaged a C-USA weekly-best 4.78 per set and led the team with 43 digs.

SETTER OF THE WEEK
Rachel Vukson, Tulsa
6-1, Fr., Oakville, Ontario, Canada
Vukson dished out a C-USA weekly-best 13.12 assists per set and contributed 3.0 digs and 0.88 blocks per set in Tulsa's two road victories over East Carolina and Marshall. In addition to her 105 assists, Vukson totaled 24 digs and seven blocks - one solo, six block assists - and landed four kills and three service aces. This is Vukson's first weekly honor.

CO-OFFENSIVE PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Emily Underwood, Memphis
6-3, So., MB, Port Elgin, Ontario, Canada
Underwood led the team with 36 kills, 4.00 kills per set, a .508 hitting percentage and 42.5 points as the Tigers won a five-set match over UCF Friday and posted a 3-1 victory over Southern Miss Sunday. Underwood had a career-best match of 21 kills to go with a .594 hitting percentage and just two errors on 32 swings against UCF. She added eight total blocks to lead all players with 25.0 points. She also had a match-high 15 kills and hit .414 on 29 attacks en route to wrapping up a 17.5-point performance verses Southern Miss Sunday.

Jennifer Eichler, Tulsa
6-0, Jr., OH, Rapid City, N.C.
Eichler landed a C-USA weekly-best 5.5 kills per set and the second-most kills with 44 in Tulsa's two road victories over East Carolina and Marshall. She also contributed a league-best 5.75 points per set and averaged a .386 attack percentage. On Sunday, she had a season-high 27 kills and hit .471 (27K-3E-51TA). Eichler's 27 kills Sunday is the most by any league player in a conference match this season, and is the second highest total kills in any match and the highest total for any four-set match among C-USA players in 2008.

CO-DEFENSIVE PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Tracy Lam, Rice
5-6, So., L, San Francisco, Calif.
Lam produced a C-USA weekly-best 57 digs over 12 games and three matches last week. She averaged 4.75 dig per set while leading the Owls with six service aces. Lam recorded a pair of 18-dig performances against Houston (W, 3-1) and Tulane (L, 3-2) as well as 21 digs in a three-set victory over UTEP.

Christine Bach, Memphis
5-9, So., L, Dresden, Germany
Bach averaged a C-USA weekly-best 4.78 per set and led the team with 43 digs. Memphis held its opponents to a combined .108 attack percentage in nine sets. The sophomore libero picked up a match-high 22 digs in a five-set win over UCF on Friday and followed that performance up with another match-best of 21 digs to help Memphis down Southern Miss 3-1 on Sunday.

2008 VOLLEYBALL PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Offensive
S2 Emily Sullivan, Marshall
S9 Hannah Stout, Tulsa
S16 Visnja Djurdjevic, Tulane
S22 Bridget Wells, Tulane
S29 Casey Dent, UAB
O6 Ivana Bozic, UAB
O13 Jen Linder, Tulane
O20 Ivana Bozic, UAB
O27 Emily Underwood, Memphis & Jennifer Eichler, Tulsa

Defensive
S2 Tracey Lam, Rice
S9 Christine Bach, Memphis
S16 Trisha Monroe, East Carolina
S22 Christine Bach, Memphis & Jenn Miller, Tulane
S29 Jenn Miller, Tulane
O6 Tracey Lam, Rice & Malorey Grove, Tulsa
O13 Lilly Domingos, UAB
O20 Tracey Lam, Rice
O27 Tracey Lam, Rice and Christine Bach, Memphis

Setter
S2 Elizabeth Fleming, Marshall
S9 Kelsey King, Houston
S16 Nevena Stefanov, UAB
S22 Lauren Rosenthal, UCF
S29 Meredith Schamun, Rice
O6 Lauren Rosenthal, UCF
O13 Nevena Stefanov, UAB
O20 Laura Cote, Memphis
O27 Rachel Vukson, Tulsa