HATTIESBURG, Miss. - The 2020 Conference USA Volleyball Championship began Thursday with Southern Miss hosting the action from its Wellness/Volleyball Facility in Hattiesburg. The league's top four teams from both the East and West divisions are competing in the three-day, single-elimination tournament for an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
 
Four quarterfinal matches in a cross-divisional format were played on Thursday. Two semifinal meetings featuring (1E) No. 19 WKU and (2W) UTEP, and (1W) No. 24 Rice and (2E) Charlotte are scheduled for Friday, and the weekend culminates in the title match on Saturday. All contests will be broadcast on ESPN+ with coverage links, including the bracket, schedule, live stats and video links available on conferenceusa.com and its Championship Central page.

Match #1: (1E) No. 19 WKU 3, (4W) North Texas 0 | Box Score

No. 19 WKU notched its 16^th sweep of the year with a 3-0 (25-23, 25-17, 27-25) win over North Texas in the first match of Thursday's quarterfinal round. The Hilltoppers advance to Friday's semifinals and will face the winner of (2W) UTEP and (3E) Marshall at noon CT on ESPN+. 
 
WKU (19-0) continues its undefeated campaign and has now won 57 of 60 sets played on the year. North Texas' 2020-21 season ended at 11-11 in its eighth-straight C-USA Championship appearance.

WKU sophomore outside hitter Paige Briggs registered a double-double with a match-best 19 digs and 10 kills. Junior middle hitter Lauren Matthews racked up a match-high 17 kills on a .552 hitting percentage, and senior setter Nadia Dieudonne lifted 46 assists. The Hilltoppers compiled 54 kills and swung .326 as a team, also picking up 62 digs and five blocks in the victory.

North Texas was powered by senior outside hitter Barbara Martin, who inked 15 kills, hitting .324 and marking 14 digs. Junior outside hitter Rhett Robinson also matched the team-high 15 kills and added a trio of digs and three block assists. The Mean Green won the blocking battle with seven stuffs at the net, but fell short with 45 kills and 54 digs on the day. 

Match #2: (2W) UTEP 3, (3E) Marshall 0 | Box Score
 
UTEP celebrated its first C-USA Championship victory since 2008 on Thursday with a 3-0 (25-22, 27-25, 25-19) sweep of Marshall in the quarterfinal round. The Miners will meet No. 1 overall seed WKU for the first time this season in Friday’s noon CT semifinal, to be aired on ESPN+.
 
The Miners improve to 10-6 with their fifth sweep in a row, marking the first time the team has claimed 15 straight sets since the 1988 season. Marshall had its four-match win streak snapped as the Thundering Herd’s 2020-21 campaign concluded in the opening round with a 10-5 overall record.
 
Three Miners tallied double-digit kills, including a match-high 14 from junior outside hitter Serena Patterson on a .407 hitting clip. Overall, UTEP muscled 57 kills to Marshall’s 38, and hit .385 as a unit. Junior setter Kristen Fritsche owned the match’s lone double-double, courtesy of her 26 assists and match-best 11 digs. UTEP also out-dug the Thundering Herd, 51-37 and out-blocked 4-2.

On Marshall’s end, redshirt senior outside hitter Ciara Debell paced all Herd players with 12 kills. Senior setter Syndey Lostumo contributed 32 assists and six digs, and C-USA Libero of the Year junior Sarah Schank led Marshall with a match-high 11 digs.

Match #3: (1W) No. 24 Rice 3, (4E) Middle Tennessee 0 | Box Score

The C-USA Championship quarterfinal round saw its third sweep in as many matches on Thursday evening as No. 24 Rice made quick work of Middle Tennessee, 3-0 (25-16, 26-24, 25-12) to advance to Friday’s 2:30 p.m. CT semifinal. The Owls await the winner of the last quarterfinal matchup between (2E) Charlotte and (3W) UAB.
 
Rice moved to 15-4 on the year with its 10^th sweep, and has now won 14 of its last 15 matches. Middle Tennessee fell to a final record of 5-11 after clinching a spot in the conference tournament in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2013.
 
The West Division Champion Owls marked their season’s best hitting percentage, a .424 clip to power 46 kills, including a match-high 13 from C-USA Player of the Year and senior outside hitter Nicole Lennon, and 10 from junior middle blocker Anota Adekunle. Adekunle led Rice with an individual .643 hitting percentage and was one of four Owls over .400 in the match. Setter of the Year junior Carly Graham registered 34 helpers and freshman outside hitter Sahara Maruska controlled the team digging effort with nine.
 
Junior outside hitter Emma Grever landed in double figures with 13 kills, and sophomore libero Marley Banton totaled 13 digs, six assists and a pair of aces for Middle Tennessee. Freshman setter Taylor Eisert paired her 28 assists with a couple of digs and four kills on the strength of a .571 attack rate.  

Match #4: (2E) Charlotte 3, (3W) UAB 2 | Box Score
 
Charlotte and UAB last met in the C-USA Championship in 1995 and the first meeting since needed five sets to decide. The teams spent Thursday night trading frames and ultimately it was Charlotte who came away with the thrilling 3-2 victory (25-19, 25-22, 26-24, 25-21, 15-10). The 49ers advance to their first C-USA semifinal and will face No. 1 seed and 24^th-ranked Rice at 2:30 p.m. CT Friday on ESPN+.  
 
Charlotte (13-4) improved upon its winningest season in more than 20 years and extended its current win streak to eight matches. UAB finished the 2020-21 season 8-8 overall while making its first C-USA tournament appearance since 2013.

The 49ers stacked up 71 kills at an attack rate of .318 with four players turning in double-digit performances. Freshman of the Year Emani’ Foster proved why she earned the specialty award, leading her squad with 20 kills on a .364 hitting percentage and sprinkling in nine digs and a pair of aces. Freshman libero Sophie Whalen compiled a team-high 18 digs with nine assists, and sophomore setter Annika Wetterstrom landed a double-double on 31 assists and 16 digs. Sophomore middle blocker Amani McArthur contributed 15 kills, hitting .542 with just two attack errors, and five blocks. As a team, Charlotte won the blocking battle with 12 to UAB’s seven.
 
For the Blazers, All-Conference First Team selection and sophomore Fernanda Maida broke the program’s single-match kills record, the one she set herself in the team’s regular season finale more than one week ago, with 37 on the night accompanied by a .330 hitting clip and 14 digs. The mark also stands as the league’s top showing this season. Redshirt junior outside hitter Alex Kells also pitched in a double-double on 15 kills and 19 digs, while sophomore setter Grace Koper added 31 assists and 14 digs. UAB posted the match’s top marks in team kills (74) and digs (78) on the night.