Otahkians keep win streak, OVC threat intact with home win

Southeast Missouri State University's volleyball team continued to roll Friday night by beating Murray State in four games, but the Otahkians know they need to keep their winning streak going today.

That's because Ohio Valley Conference leader Tennessee-Martin comes to Houck Field House for a 7 p.m. match. If the Otahkians have any realistic hopes of winning the OVC title and hosting the league tournament, they need to beat the Skyhawks, who they trail by two games in the loss column.

"It's our biggest match of the year," senior Emily Johnson said. "We're very excited about it."

The Otahkians (11-9, 6-2 OVC) remained third in the conference and notched their fifth straight victory by defeating Murray State (5-10, 4-5) 30-28, 24-30, 30-25, 30-24 in front of about 400 fans at Houck.

Johnson recorded a triple-double with 15 kills, 17 digs and 10 assists. Bobbi Carlile had 15 kills and 15 digs, but Southeast's kill leader was junior Sarah Frost, who hammered home 23.

Junior Suzanne Gundlach led the way in digs with 20 while freshman Jill Miller added 12. Junior setter Emily Scannell recorded 46 assists along with 11 digs and three service aces.

"I think we played well as a team. We picked up as the match went on," Johnson said. "Overall we've really been playing well lately."

Southeast coach Cindy Gannon agreed, saying, "I thought we played a good match. Murray is a tough team and we played with intensity tonight. We continue to get better as a team, more cohesive."

The Racers, coached by former Southeast assistant Dave Schwepker, were led by Lindy Northcutt with 20 kills. Abbi Gui added 16 kills and Paige Sun contributed 13.

Murray State led most of the way in the first game, including 24-19, before Southeast rallied for a 30-28 victory.

In game two, the Otahkians went up 13-7 early but the Racers came back to prevail 30-24.

The crucial game three was tied at 21 before Southeast reeled off seven straight points to take control and win 30-25. The Otahkians then eased to a 30-24 game four victory as they closed out the match.

"We had a good match," Carlile said. "We seem to have lapses in the middle of games sometimes, but we've been playing good and we hope to continue it."

Gannon said she knows just how important tonight's match is as Southeast tries to hand Tennessee-Martin its first OVC defeat. A setback for the Otahkians would put them three games behind the Skyhawks on the loss side. Since the Skyhawks would then have swept the season series from Southeast, the Otahkians' title hopes would be all but over.

"We would still need somebody else to knock off Martin," Gannon said. "But we have to win to realistically have a chance at the conference title. It's a huge match."

Women's soccer team beats Morehead State

MOREHEAD, Ky. -- Southeast's women's soccer team had a tough time with Morehead State Friday, but the Otahkians remained undefeated in the OVC.

The Otahkians broke away from a halftime tie with two second-half goals as they prevailed 3-1, improving to 10-4-1 overall and 3-0 in the OVC. Morehead fell to 1-10-1, 0-4-1.

Diana Poovey scored twice for the Otahkians, including the game's first goal. She also got an insurance tally with 18 minutes remaining.

Erika Todd put the Otahkians up for good at 2-1 by scoring an unassisted goal 22 minutes into the second half.

Todd also had an assist, as did Lisa Schweppe.

Southeast goalkeeper Amanda Wrzos made three saves as the Otahkians outshot the Eagles 17-6.

The Otahkians return to action Oct. 25 when they host Austin Peay at 7 p.m.