Our Opinion: Busy sports calendar for the coming week

Sports fans will have several opportunities to cheer on their favorite teams in the coming week, and many of those contests will have huge stakes.

Southeast Missouri State University’s women’s volleyball team wrapped up the Ohio Valley Conference regular season championship Wednesday night, Nov. 20. In the program’s 50th season, they defeated Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville in straight sets to earn not only the No. 1 seed in the postseason conference tournament but also the right to host the event in the comfy confines of Houck Field House.

The tournament will run Sunday, Nov. 24, through Tuesday, Nov. 26.

The Redhawks will take on No. 8 seed Tennessee State at 4 p.m. Sunday, and a trip to the NCAA tournament is there for the taking as the Redhawks have been dominant on their home floor this season.

Another SEMO team is gearing up for a postseason run of its own.

The football Redhawks will look to clinch the Big South-OVC crown with a win at Tennessee State on Saturday, Nov. 23. The game, which kicks off at 3:30 p.m., could propel the No. 11-ranked Redhawks into the national playoffs and even a Saturday, Nov. 30, home game.

SEMO football fans have gotten used to the season extending past the regular season, and this year is no different.

The regular season is just getting underway for the university’s basketball teams, too. The pre-conference schedules always provide a wide variety of competition — with trips to powerhouse teams across the country and home tilts against uncommon opponents.

The women’s home opener will be at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 25, against Southern Illinois. Briley Palmer is leading the team in her first season as head coach, and the Redhawks have fought gamely against good teams, such as Evansville and Dayton.

Same goes for the men’s team, as head coach Brad Korn has had them matching up against the likes of Bradley and Vanderbilt this season. SEMO will face off against the University of North Carolina-Asheville at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 22.

An early season highlight for both teams will come Saturday, Nov. 30, as the women play Indiana State (5:15 p.m.) and the men host the Kangaroos of University of Missouri-Kansas City (7:30 p.m.) in a home doubleheader. That has the potential to be a busy Saturday for SEMO and Cape Girardeau if the Redhawks get to host a football playoff game.

At the high school level, football playoffs are in full swing.

Perryville’s St. Vincent, the No. 1-ranked Class 1 team in the state, is set for a home quarterfinal game against Crystal City on Friday, while the Jackson Indians will be on the road against Kirkwood.

Good luck to all our area teams. We’ll be hoping for wins for the teams we support and safety for all the athletes.

We often look at sports through the fandom lens, but hosting a tournament, such as the OVC volleyball tournament, or a football playoff game provides an economic boost locally. A few thousand people visiting town will spend money on hotel rooms, eat out at restaurants and fuel up their vehicles.

We welcome all those who will be coming to Cape Girardeau and look forward to extending our best hospitality to them.