Southeast dumps Eastern Kentucky

~ The Redhawks improved to 4-3 in the OVC with their win.

The competition wasn't quite the same, but Southeast Missouri State wasn't about to complain about a victory.

After being swept at home by Ohio Valley Conference leader Morehead State the night before, Southeast bounced back to knock off Eastern Kentucky.

The Redhawks posted a 30-23, 30-27, 21-30, 30-25 win Saturday afternoon at Houck Field House as they closed out a five-match homestand.

Southeast improved to 8-9 overall and 4-3 in OVC play. EKU fell to 1-15 and 0-6.

"I don't think the competition was as strong as [Friday]," Southeast coach Renata Nowacki said. "But I can't ever complain about a win, regardless of how it looks on the board."

Against Morehead State, the Redhawks had a poor attack percentage of .127 as they had 33 kills compared to 18 errors.

That area of their game improved considerably against EKU as the Redhawks hit .281, with 61 kills and 16 errors.

"Sixty-one kills and 16 errors is not bad for us. That's a good sign," Nowacki said.

Sophomore outside hitter Karleigh DeLong paced the Redhawks with 20 kills, and she added 14 digs for a double-double.

"[Friday] was very disappointing. It's good to bounce back," DeLong said. "But we're still looking to play better volleyball.

"It's a win, but we know we can play a lot better."

Junior outside hitter Aubrey Dondlinger also had a double-double with 15 kills and 13 digs.

"Karleigh and Aubrey both had very nice matches," Nowacki said.

Junior setter Alyssa Aston was a third Southeast player to post a double-double as she had 52 assists and 10 digs.

Sophomore libero Molly Davis paced the Redhawks in digs with 19. Senior outside hitter Brittany Hastings added nine kills and eight digs.

After leading virtually from start to finish in the first two games, the Redhawks were denied a sweep as the Colonels cruised in game three.

Southeast then pulled away from a 17-17 tie to claim game four and the match.

"It was a little bit better, but we still have to find that consistency we're looking for," Nowacki said.

Southeast returns to action Tuesday at Murray State.

Cross country

The Southeast men's cross country team won the Greater Louisville Classic blue division team title.

Brandon Funderburk won his division's race, crossing the line in 25 minutes, 48.88 seconds.

Southeast finished with 41 points while second-place Franklin College had 91.

Danny Stults (fifth, 26:26.10) and Brad DeMattei (10th, 26:37.96) also broke into the top 10 for Southeast.

Dustin Davis (12th, 26:46.18), Jason Lumpkin (15th, 26:51.47) and Chris Loseman (17th, 27:00.97) ran well for the Redhawks.

In the women's race, the Redhawks took ninth in the gold division with 287 points. The University of Kentucky won the division with 55 points.

Juli Koenegstein led Southeast with a 20th-place finish in 18:01.57.

Southeast freshman Brandi Gervais (57th, 18:47.59), Amy Warren (63rd, 18:54.01), Monica Noble (76th, 19:05.87) and Linnea Woldtvedt (93rd, 19:19.98) rounded out the top finishers for the Redhawks.