Oct. 27, 2008

IRVING, Texas - For the first time this season, the University of Memphis volleyball program garnered multiple Conference USA weekly honors as sophomore middle blocker Emily Underwood and sophomore libero Christine Bach were named co-Offensive Player of the Week and co-Libero of the Week, respectively by the league office this afternoon.

"The award for Emily (Underwood) is well-deserved," said head coach April Jauregui. "The way she's been performing all year has been very solid. Congratulations to her. Where she has come in three years is remarkable."

Underwood, who shares this week's award with Tulsa freshman Rachel Vukson, was Memphis top and most efficient attacking option in a pair of C-USA wins over the weekend. The 6-3 middle led Memphis 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. The co-Offensive Player of the Week honor is the first of Underwood's career and the first Offensive Weekly award for Memphis this season.

Now a four-time C-USA Defensive Player of the Week honoree, Bach averaged a league weekly-best 4.78 per set and led the U of M with 43 digs. With Bach patrolling the back row, 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. Bach shares the accolade with Rice libero Tracey Lam. She has earned the weekly award on three occasions in the 2008 season.

"Christine (Bach) is very deserving of this honor also," Jauregui stated. "She's improving every match and right now is second in the Conference in digs. She's really a great leader for our team. With Emily's block and Christine's ability to dig up balls, it's really helped our team improve and execute better offensively.

Bach and Underwood will be tested this weekend as Memphis hosts Marshall and East Carolina in C-USA action.