COLLEGE VOLLEYBALL: OTAHKIANS CONTINUE QUEST FOR PERFECTION

Southeast Missouri State University's volleyball team has locked up another Ohio Valley Conference regular-season championship and will host the OVC Tournament Nov. 17-18.

But that doesn't mean the Otahkians' final two conference matches of the regular season -- both at home this week -- aren't important to the squad.

If the Otahkians beat Austin Peay tonight and Tennessee State Saturday afternoon -- they will be heavily favored to do so -- then Southeast will finish the regular campaign with a perfect OVC record.

Since joining the OVC in 1991, Southeast has won eight of 10 OVC titles -- but only once before have the Otahkians rolled through the league in perfect fashion, that coming in 1996 when they went 18-0.

So wrapping up a perfect conference season would certainly hold special meaning to coach Cindy Gannon and her squad, which is 18-8 overall and 14-0 in the OVC.

"That wasn't one of our original goals. Our original goal was just to win the conference," said Gannon, whose team lost only one league match during three of its championship seasons, including last year. "You never start the season saying let's go undefeated, you say let's go win it (the league title).

"But this would be a nice bonus and it would be really special to us because you don't see many teams in any sport go undefeated in their conference."

The Otahkians, who have won 14 straight matches, will receive their toughest test this week from Austin Peay, which comes to Houck Field House for a 7 o'clock match tonight. The Lady Govs (16-12 overall, 7-6 OVC) are in fourth place in the nine-team league and always seem to be dangerous.

"They're tough," said Gannon. "They're the kind of team that can come in and surprise you, so we'll have to be ready to play."

Tennessee State (2-25, 0-13), which will play at Houck at 2 p.m. Saturday, doesn't figure to put up much of a challenge as the Lady Tigers are by far the OVC's worst squad.

The Otahkians continue to be led by the dynamic senior duo of Krista Haukap and Lea Beckemeyer, who rank one-two in the OVC in kills.

Haukap, the school's all-time kills leader and no doubt the leading candidate for OVC Player of the Year, has 468 kills for an average of 5.44 per game. Beckemeyer is close behind with 449 kills (5.10 per game).

"They are both having tremendous seasons," Gannon said.

Another big key for the Otahkians has been the play of freshman setter Emily Scannell, who leads the OVC in assists (1,189, 14.15 per game).

"Setter was a big question mark for us going into the season but, for a freshman, Emily has done a fantastic job," said Gannon.

Even though the Otahkians have rolled through the league so far -- they have dropped only a handful of games -- Gannon said some of the scores don't indicate how tough the matches have been.

"The game scores don't indicate it, but we've had some tough matches lately," she said. "The teams in our league have been improving as the season has gone on."

Which is why Gannon knows the Otahkians can't automatically count on winning the OVC Tournament and gaining the league's automatic NCAA berth, although they will be heavily favored to do so.

"Once the regular season is over, it's a new season and everybody starts 0-0," she said. "We just want to focus in on the next two matches we have, then start focusing on the new season.

"It's going to be nice to have the (OVC) tournament at home. We have good fan support and we've had a great record at home. But we know once the tournament starts, what we did during the regular season won't matter. Everybody will start out equal."