Lady Eagles Face Tough Road Challenges
10/23/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
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Week 9 Notes
Lady Eagles Face Tough Road Challenges
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - The Southern Miss Lady Eagle volleyball team travels to face two of its tougher challenges of the season with matches against Conference USA powers Cincinnati and Louisville this weekend.
Southern Miss (21-3, 6-0 in C-USA) visit the Bearcats (19-2, 5-0) at 6:30 p.m. (CT), Friday before taking on the No. 20 Cardinals (11-4, 4-1) at 6:30 p.m. (CT) on Saturday.
In Cincinnati and Louisville, the Lady Eagles face the top two teams in the preseason Conference USA coaches poll. The Cardinals were selected as the preseason favorite to win it all, while the Bearcats, who were ranked No. 25 last week, were picked to finish second.
But Southern Miss has been running on all cylinders this year and is having the best season under third-year Head Coach Santiago Restrepo. The Lady Eagles currently share the lead in C-USA with Tulane, who both sport 6-0 records. The Bearcats are one-half match behind the two.
Bridget Files, Nicki Tribble and Andrea Bush continue to lead Southern Miss. Files has a team-high 415 points and is third in kills (318), first in digs (256) and first in overall blocks (103). Tribble is second in points with 395, while leading in kills (341). Bush is second overall in kills (329) and is third on the team with 377.5 points. Setter Amy Truong paces the team with 1,042 assists and also has 39 service aces this season.
Cincinnati is led by preseason All-Conference USA selection Julie DuPont who has 475.5 overall points, including 413 kills. She also is second on the team with 244 digs. Laura Lauder has a team-best 992 assists.
The Cardinals feature three preseason all-league members including Player of the Year Bing Sun. Sun is third on the team with 158 kills, while fellow all-leaguers Sonja Percan and Lena Ustymenko have 212 and 203 kills, respectively.