Greenville, N.C. - East Carolina looks to remain perfect in Conference USA volleyball play when the Lady Pirates host Houston Friday and TCU Saturday for Parents' night. ECU is coming off a sweep of UAB and USF last weekend on the road. Match times are 7 p.m. both nights.

ECU (8-9, 2-0 C-USA) is off to its best start ever in C-USA play after downing UAB and USF during the opening weekend. Sophomore middle blocker Jaime Bevan leads the team with 182 kills and 57 blocks while averaging 2.89 kills per game. She hits .282. Junior Erica Wilson is right-behind Bevan with 179 kills while averaging a team-best 2.98 kills per game. Junior middle blocker Paige Howell has been impressive in her first season with the Pirates. Howell has a .346 attack percentage and has 172 kills. Sophomore setter Heidi Krug has doubled her career total for assists already while leading the offense with 724 set assists. She also leads the team with 25 service aces. Junior libero Johanna Bertini is on pace to surpass her season career-high in digs. Bertini already has 252 digs in 2004 which is 56 digs off her season-high.

Houston (2-12, 1-1 C-USA) is coming off a mixed weekend that included a tough 3-2 loss to Tulane on Saturday and a 3-1 victory over Southern Miss on Friday. Sophomore outside hitter Kelly McAnelly has a team-high 233 kills and averages 4.40 kills per game. Becca Sartori is second on the team with 140 kills. Libero Jaci Gonzalez already has 309 digs in 55 games. Gonzalez has registered double-digit digs in 56 consecutive matches.

TCU (11-5, 2-0 C-USA) swept last weekend's C-USA openers from Tulane and Southern Miss. The Horned Frogs are off to their best conference start ever. The win over the Golden Eagles marked the 100th victory in TCU volleyball history. Senior Dominika Szabo and junior Erin Ludeke swept the Conference USA weekly honors. Szabo received recognition after she hit 17 kills with only one error for a .516 hitting percentage against Southern Miss and a .459 percentage for the week. Szabo led all players in both matches in kills and hitting percentage, despite sitting out game two against Southern Miss on her way to the Player of the Week honor. In TCU's victory over Southern Miss, Ludeke aced five serves, while setting up an over 60-kill team performance in both matches (70 vs. Tulane, 64 vs. Southern Miss) as she was named the Setter of the Week. Ellen Rheme leads TCU with a team-high 246 kills as she averages 4.24 kills per game. Szabo already has 198 kills on the season while hitting .301. Emily Allen has contribued 33 service aces to the Horned Frog offense.

LAST TIME OUT AT USF: Junior middle blocker Paige Howell registed a team-high 16 kills to lead four East Carolina players and junior outside hitter Erica Wilson posted a double-double with 13 kills and 14 digs as the Lady Pirates remained perfect in Conference USA play knocking off USF in five games, 28-30, 30-27, 26-30, 30-20, 16-14, Sunday morning in The Corral. ECU (8-9, 2-0 C-USA) finished the opening weekend in C-USA undefeated for the first time since joining the conference in 2001 and won its first ever match against USF. Jaime Bevan added 15 kills while freshman Mignon Dubenion had 11 kills. Junior libero Johanna Bertini had 20 digs for the Pirates. ECU out-blocked USF, 14-9. Wilson finished with eight blocks while Howell led the team with nine blocks. The Pirates hit .205 in the match and held USF to a .188 attack percentage.

LAST TIME OUT AT UAB: Sophomore middle blocker Jaime Bevan scored 14 points including 12 kills and three blocks to lead three players in double figures and East Carolina out-hit UAB, .271-.118, to take the Conference USA opener for both teams in three games, 30-22, 30-20, 30-20, in Bartow Arena. Erica Wilson and Kelley Wernert each added 10 kills for the Lady Pirates who won their C-USA opener for the first time since joining the league in 2001. Junior libero Johanna Bertini recorded 19 digs. Sophomore setter Heidi Krug ran the ECU offense finishing with 39 assists. The Lady Pirates out-blocked the Lady Blazers, 6-2. Paige Howell and Mignon Dubenion each put down five kills for ECU. The Lady Pirates hit .306 and .303 in games one and two respectively before forcing UAB to hit .029 in the final game to claim the match.

LAST TIME AT HOUSTON: Four Houston players reached double figures in kills, led by freshman Kelly McAnelly with 15 as the Cougars knocked off East Carolina in three games, 30-22, 30-17 and 30-23 at the Hofheinz Pavilion. Sarah Vick led ECU with 12 kills and the Pirates managed eight blocks. Erica Wilson finished with six kills while freshman Jaime Bevan hit .333 and finished with five kills. Houston hit .311 while ECU only hit .138. The Cougars out-dug the Pirates, 59-33. Freshman setter Heidi Krug ran the offense and finished with 24 set assists. Senior Alexis Jones recorded five blocks while Bevan had three blocks.

LAST TIME AT HOUSTON: TCU hit .450 as a team on its way to a three-game sweep of East Carolina, 30-22, 30-22 and 30-14. Erica Wilson added eight kills on a .412 attack percentage and freshman Jaime Bevan hit .500 putting down six kills, but the Lady Pirates hit .173 as a team. Heidi Krug ran the ECU offense finishing with 30 set assists and picked up seven digs on defense. Sophomore Johanna Bertini added six digs. ECU held the advantage in blocks, 5.5-3. The Horned Frogs had all six hitters finish with an attacking percentage over .400. Freshman middle blocker Emily Allen led the team with 14 kills, while junior Ellen Rehme cranked out 15 kills and junior Dominika Szabo added 13.

THE SERIES WITH HOUSTON:Houston leads the all-time series with the Lady Pirates, 3-0. The Lady Cougars won the last meeting in Greenville in 2002 in five games, 3-2.

THE SERIES WITH TCU:The Horned Frogs lead the all-time series with the Lady Pirates, 2-1. TCU won last season's meeting in Fort Worth, 3-0. ECU defeated TCU during the 2001 season in five games.

LADY PIRATES TO "DIG FOR THE CURE" AGAINST SOUTHERN MISS: The East Carolina Volleyball team will take part in the "Dig for the Cure" to help benefit research efforts for breast cancer. ECU has designated its home match against Southern Miss on Oct .23 as its "Dig for the Cure" night. Players will collect pledges from the community. Fans can pledge per dig or pledge one flat fee. ECU's goal is 10 donations per player with a $3,000 team goal. Deadline for pledges is Wed. Oct. 20. For more information, please call the ECU Volleyball office at (252) 328-4612.

After this weekend's matches, East Carolina takes to the road next weekend when the Lady Pirates travel to Memphis and Saint Louis for two C-USA matches.