Sept. 2, 2003

Junior outside hitter Tiara Gilkey (Creve Coeur, Mo./Pattonsville) was named the Conference USA Volleyball Co-Player of the Week for the week ending Aug. 31st it was announced by the league office, Tuesday. It is Gilkey's first-ever C-USA weekly honor after earning her second career all-tournament team honor over the weekend.

Gilkey led Memphis to a 3-1 record and a second place finish at the Arkansas State Volleyball Classic over the weekend. She tallied four double-doubles and surpassed the 20-kill mark in three matches, including a career-best 27-kill effort in a 3-2 win over UT Martin. Gilkey also set a new career high with 21 digs in a 3-2 loss to host Arkansas State in the championship match.

Gilkey leads the Tigers with 4.72 kills per game, a .289 hitting percentage and 3.17 digs per game.

"Tiara was definitely our most consistent player at the tournament last weekend," Head Coach Carrie Yerty said. "She probably put together her best tournament or best four straight matches of her career. I was really pleased with her stability and thought that she demonstrated that she is both an offensive and defensive asset for this team."

Gilkey shares the league honor with Cincinnati's Julie DuPont, the same player who shared a weekly honor with setter Heather Watts last season. DuPont led the Bearcats to a 3-1 record and a second-place finish at the Patriot Invitational. DuPont, also named to the all-tournament team, averaged 6.2 points, 5.0 kills, 2.53 digs and 1.07 blocks per game in the tournament.

Memphis travels to Davidson College to participate in the Wildcat Classic this weekend. Memphis will open the tournament against Radford University, Friday, before facing Troy State and host Davidson on Saturday. Memphis then returns home for a couple of nights before traveling to Martin, Tenn., to face the Skyhawks again for the second time in three weeks for a non-conference clash, Sept. 9th.