Mustangs Head to Houston For Conference USA Championship
Nov 15 | Volleyball
Nov. 15, 2006
DALLAS (SMU) - The SMU volleyball team is headed to Houston to compete in the Conference USA Championship where the Mustangs earned the No. 8 seed. SMU finished the regular season with a 16-14 records overall and a 7-9 record in conference play.
The conference announced the all-conference awards earlier today as Rachel Giubilato was named to the first team and Kendra Kahanek was named to the all-freshman team.
The 2006 C-USA Volleyball Championship will be held Nov. 16-19 in Houston, Texas. Houston will serve as the host institution for the four-day event, with the champion receiving the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. All 12 C-USA institutions will participate in the tournament, while the top four seeds receive first round byes. CSTV will televise the championship game live on Sunday, Nov. 19 at 6 p.m.
The Mustangs will face Southern Miss who earned the No. 9 seed with a season record of 15-17 and 6-10 in C-USA. The match-up will be the championship opener as the match is slated to start at noon on Thursday, Nov. 16.
SMU is led by Rachel Giubilato who has posted 543 kills on the season and her average of 4.76 kills per game has earned her a 17th place ranking in the nation. Giubilato has compiled 19 double-doubles over the season while Caitlin Rainbird has earned 16 of her own. Rainbird has compiled 403 kills for the season with an average of 3.54. Giubilato averages 3.62 digs per game while Rainbird notches 3.24 digs per game.
Kendra Kahanek has put down 112 blocks on the season while Natalie Peters have averaged 1.17 blocks per game for a total of 111. Kahanek also leads the team with an attack percentage of .321 with 2.31 kills per game. Candice Davis averages 4.44 digs per game while Madison Hill posts 4.85 assists per game. Sharing time as the setter, Stefanie Kons averages 11.43 assists per game.
Southern Miss is led by Angela Hlavaty who has totaled 317 kills for an average of 2.78 per game while Amanda Huntoon leads with 115 total blocks on the season. Cassie Lavery averages 6.69 assists per game for a total of 800 and Maia Ivanova has posted 4.01 digs for an average of 4.01 per game.
The winner of the match will advance to take on No. 1 seeded Tulsa on Friday 17 at noon.
