Tulsa Volleyball Tabbed To Win Third Straight Conference Title

The University of Tulsa volleyball team was selected to win their third consecutive Conference USA title by a poll of the league's coaches.

The Golden Hurricane also place three players on the preseason team, the only team to place three players on the team.

Senior outside hitter Tyler Henderson was tabbed as the conference preseason player of the year, while libero Jessica Adams and outside hitter Diana Silva were named to the preseason team.

The Golden Hurricane has crushed the competition in the past two years, going 38-2 in conference play en route to their past two conference titles.

Henderson is the two-time reigning C-USA Player of the Year, finishing fifth in the country in kills per set last season with 4.86. Henderson also has been named a second-team All-American the past two seasons. Her 1,857 career kills are most in school history.

Adams was named C-USA Libero of the Year after she had 4.85 digs per set last season. Adams also has the most digs in Tulsa history with 1,757 digs. Also, she is the only Golden Hurricane player to have 500 digs in three straight seasons.

Silva was a first-team C-USA performer last year as well, with 13 double-doubles in 2011, and 29 matches with double-digit kills.

2012 CONFERENCE USA PRESEASON VOLLEYBALL COACHES POLL

1. Tulsa (11)

2. Rice

3. UCF (1)

4. UAB

5. Houston

6. SMU

7. Memphis

8. UTEP

9. Tulane

10. Southern Miss

11. Marshall

12. East Carolina

(#) First Place Votes in Parenthesis

2012 ALL-CONFERENCE USA PRESEASON VOLLEYBALL TEAM

Student-Athlete School Pos Ht. Yr. Hometown

Altrese Hawkins Memphis OH 5-10 R-Sr. Schaumburg, Ill.

Nancy Cole Rice MB 6-3 Sr. Pasadena, Texas

Megan Murphy Rice S 5-10 R-Jr. Plano, Texas

Courtney Manning SMU MB 6-0 Sr. Mesquite, Texas

Cori Martone Tulane MB/OH 6-0 Jr. Baton Rouge, La.

Jessica Adams Tulsa DS/L 5-7 Sr. Oklahoma City, Okla.

Tyler Henderson Tulsa OH 5-10 Sr. Oklahoma City, Okla.

Diana Silva Tulsa OH 5-9 Sr. Niteroi, Brazil

Sam Serley UAB MB 6-2 Sr. Nashville, Tenn.

Angelica Crump UCF OH 6-3 R-Jr. Atlanta, Ga.

Xitlali Herrera UTEP MB 6-0 Jr. Juarez, Mexico

Preseason Player of the Year: Tyler Henderson, Tulsa