Nov. 21, 2002

CHICAGO - Three members of the Charlotte 49ers volleyball team were honored at the Conference USA annual awards banquet, held this evening in Chicago. Courtney Burg and Laura Darnell were third-team All-Conference USA selections, while Lisa Newell was named to the the league's all-freshman team.

It is the first time Charlotte, who enters this week's tournament as the sixth seed with a 17-14, 7-6 C-USA record, has had three of its members honored since joining the conference in 1995. This is also the first year that the 49ers have had multiple all-conference selections since 1999.

This is the second All-Conference USA honor for Burg, a senior from Houston, Texas, after earning similar notice last season. This year, she leads the 49ers with a 3.79 kills per game average and is second on the team to Darnell in digs with 3.21 per game. Burg has 19 double-doubles this season and enters Friday's first-round match against Memphis only seven kills away from becoming the 10th player in school history to log 1,000 kills.

Like Burg, Darnell is also a senior. The Hickory, N.C., native leads the Niners and ranks fourth overall in Conference USA with 3.88 digs per game. She has topped double figures in digs 27 this season, including 12 times in conference play. Her total of 454 digs this year rank fourth in the school's single-season record book.

Newell, who hails from Merrillville, Ind., was named to the C-USA all-freshman team. She leads Charlotte with 101 total blocks this year, nearly double the next highest total on the team. Her 52 service aces also rank first for the 49ers and her average of 0.44 aces per game is good for fourth in the league. Newell is also fourth on the team with 2.45 kills per game. Earlier this season, she began her collegiate career earning all-tournament honors at all four of the tournaments that the team played.

The 49ers begin play tomorrow versus Memphis, the 11th seed, at 3:00 CST. The winner faces the third seed, Cincinnati on Saturday at 3:00 CST.