THE TEAMS
EAST CAROLINA hosts its second City Hotel & Bistro Pirate Invitational this weekend when the Lady Pirates welcome Mercer, Lamar, High Point and Furman to Greenville for the round-robin tournament. The Lady Pirates (1-0) took care of UNC Wilmington in three games Wednesday, 30-18, 30-17 and 30-19. Junior libero Johanna Bertini recorded a career-high 20 digs and junior outside hitter Erica Wilson led three players in double figures with 13 kills. Sophomore setter Heidi Krug posted a double-double with 41 set assists and 13 digs as ECU (1-0) won its season opener for the second straight season.

FURMAN returns eight letterwinners from last year's team that posted a 17-16 overall record with a 12-6 mark in league play. The team will be led by senior middle blocker Julia Fredrickson, who earned All Southern Conference a year ago and is expected to anchor Furman's net defense this season, and senior libero Rosey Cashman, who will lead the Lady Paladin passing game. Fredrickson also was named Southern Conference Preseason All-Conference and the Paladins were preseason picked third in the south division. Fredrickson led the team with 344 kills in 2003 and hit .265. Junior setter Molly Rybak finished the season with 961 set assists.

HIGH POINT dropped its season opener to North Carolina in Chapel Hill Wednesday night, 30-16, 30-14 and 30-18. Freshman Jamie Kaufman recorded a match-high 10 kills. Lindsey Pickens added eight kills for the Lady Panthers. Michelle Feiser collected 21 assists for HPU, while Pickens and Kim Anderson contributed a match-high 15 digs. Pickens led the team in 2003 posting 512 kills and 388 digs.

LAMAR opens the season on the road for the first time in five years. Head coach Fiona Bolten-Simmons returns for her third season, carrying a 36-28 overall record into the '04 campaign. LU returns six players from last year's 10-21 squad while welcoming nine newcomers to the lineup. Three of this weekend's opponents will be first-time foes for Lamar, as the Lady Cardinals take on Furman, HPU and host ECU for the first time in school history. In LU and Mercer's only previous meeting, Lamar emerged victorious, 3-0, in 1993. Freshman Courtney Mitchell led all players with 19 kills while adding three digs in an intrasquad match at the end of fall workouts. Sophomore returnee Buchi Okoh recorded the second highest total with 18 kills to accompany four digs. Senior setter Ashley Hallagin is the leader of the team. Hallagin recorded 1,081 assists in 2003 averaging 10.01 assists per game.

MERCER also opens the season on the road when it takes part in the City Hotel & Bistro Pirate Invitational. The Bears are led by the senior duo of Jen Smith and Katie Plummer. Smith led the team in kills last season with 337 while Plummer was second on the team with 321. Last year, Plummer became the first player in school history to record 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs in her career. The all-time school leader in kills, Plummer needs just 20 more digs to own that school record as well. Head coach Noelle Hughes begins her first season with the Bears with four matches over the weekend.

ECU AGAINST THE TOURNAMENT FIELD
ECU has faced three of this weekend's opponents in the past. The Pirates' series with Mercer and High Point are tied. ECU has met High Point six times with each team winning three matches. East Carolina and Mercer have met twice with each team winning once. Furman leads the all-time series with East Carolina, 7-1. ECU and Lamar meet for the first time ever. Furman and ECU last met in 2003 when the Lady Paladins defeated ECU, 3-2, to break ECU's seven match win-streak. East Carolina and High Point last met during the 1998 season.

PIRATES WIN 2003 CITY HOTEL & BISTRO INVITATIONAL
East Carolina won the first annual city City Hotel & Bistro Pirate Invitational. ECU defeated Lipscomb, Radford and UNC Greensboro all in three-game matches to finish the tournament undefeated. Sophomore Pam Ferris was named the tournament's most valuable player after recording 28 kills, 21 digs and 11 service aces in three matches. Freshman Jaime Bevan and sophomore Erica Wilson were both named to the all-tournament team.

ECU HOST 2ND CITY HOTEL & BISTRO PIRATE INVITATIONAL
East Carolina will host the second City Hotel & Bistro Tournament this weekend. The Pirates will welcome Lamar, Mercer, High Point and Furman to Greenville. ECU captured the tournament title last year as the Pirate finished the tournament undefeated. Pam Ferris was named the tournament's most valuable player after recording 28 kills, 21 digs and 11 service aces in three matches. Jaime Bevan and Erica Wilson were both named to all-tournament team.

UP NEXT
The Pirates continue their home-stand when they host North Carolina A&T at 7 p.m. Tuesday night.

CITY HOTEL & BISTRO PIRATE INVITATIONAL SCHEDULE
Friday, Sept. 3
Lamar vs. Mercer, 11 a.m.
East Carolina vs. High Point, 1 p.m.
Furman vs. Lamar, 3 p.m.
High Point vs. Mercer, 5 p.m.
East Carolina vs. Furman, 7 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 4, 2004
Furman vs. High Point, 11 a.m.
East Carolina vs. Mercer, 1 p.m.
Lamar vs. High Point, 3 p.m.
Furman vs. Mercer, 5 p.m.
East Carolina vs. Lamar, 7 p.m.