Sept. 15, 1998

CLEMSON, S.C. -- The Clemson volleyball team is ranked 31st nationally in the USA Today/AVCA Coaches' Poll released today, moving up from a 33rd-place ranking last week.

The Tigers (5-1) defeated Auburn and Central Florida last weekend to win the Big Orange Bash.

"We are excited that we are continuing to progress forward," said head coach Jolene Jordan Hoover. "We had a great weekend, winning our tournament by beating Auburn and Central Florida each in three games. This will be a big week for us. Hopefully, we can deep moving up in the poll." Clemson placed four players on the All-Tournament Team, including junior middle hitter Cindy Stern who garnered Tournament MVP honors. Alison Coday, Melissa Kudelka and Skye Frost also represented the Tigers on the All-Tournament Team.

Clemson will travel to South Carolina (6-1) Wednesday for a 7 p.m. match. The Tigers defeated the Gamecocks 3-0 last season in Clemson. The Gamecocks lead the series 26-17, but Clemson has a 3-2 advantage over the last five seasons. South Carolina's only loss this season was to tenth-ranked Pacific.

This weekend Clemson will travel to Kentucky for the Wildcat Invitational. On Friday, the Tigers will face SMU at 5 p.m. Saturday morning at 10 a.m. Clemson will face Arkansas State, before playing Kentucky Saturday at 7 p.m.

The complete USA TODAY/AVCA Coaches Poll is as follows:
1 Penn State 1478
2 Long Beach State 1458
3 Nebraska 1374
4 UC-Santa Barbara 1288
5 Southern California 1202
6 BYU 1201
7 Wisconsin 1166
8 Pacific 1029
9 Stanford 1024
10 Florida 958
11 Texas 919
12 Colorado 821
13 Hawai'i 817
14 Ohio State 731
15 Loyola Marymount 594
16 Arkansas 587
17 Texas A&M 522
18 Michigan State 364
19 Florida State 342
20 San Diego 330
21 Arizona 274
22 Illinois 266
23 Louisville 163
24 Notre Dame 130
25 Minnesota 123

Others Receiving Votes: Washington State (88), UCLA (59), Michigan (49), Texas Tech (47), Indiana (24), CLEMSON (19), Washington (17), Eastern Washington (8), Fresno State (8), Cal Poly SLO (7), Kansas State (5), Maryland (3), American (1), Houston (1), Northwestern (1), South Carolina (1).