EIU SWEEP STUNS OTAHKS

The Eastern Illinois volleyball team was intent on making a major statement Tuesday night.

Consider the mission accomplished.

EIU came to Houck Field House and handed Southeast Missouri State University a resounding 15-10, 15-9, 15-6 loss in front of 115 stunned fans.

Southeast has won the past five Ohio Valley Conference regular-season championships and is favored to make it six in a row this year.

The Lady Panthers lost four seniors and returned just two starters from last year's solid team that upset Southeast in the semifinals of the OVC Tournament played at Houck.

"We definitely wanted to make a statement tonight," said EIU coach Betty Ralston. "We wanted to show the league that we are one of the teams to beat.

"Even though we're a lot younger this year, our kids like each other and we get along so much better. Last year we had a problem with that."

EIU improved to 8-2 overall and 5-0 in OVC play. Southeast fell to 4-5 overall, 3-2 in the league.

"I still feel like we're one of the better teams (in the OVC), but we didn't play like it tonight," said Southeast coach Cindy Gannon. "We have to step up our level of play because we can't count on people coming in here and being intimidated. Eastern Illinois was not intimidated one bit.

"Eastern Illinois had a great game plan. They played as a team. We played as six individuals. But I still think we're a good volleyball team."

The Otahkians have been extremely tough at Houck over the years and never before Tuesday night had they been swept in three games by an OVC foe. That covers a lot of ground, since Southeast joined the league in 1991.

"After the second game, I told the girls that if we won in three, that would really make a statement to the league," Ralston said.

EIU's Meleah Cutler, playing an exceptional all-around match, had 14 kills, 13 digs and boomed in four aces with her powerful jump serve.

Sherry Austin also had 14 kills while Missy Hollenkamp added 10 kills to go along with 17 digs.

Krista Haukap led the Otahkians with 13 kills and 12 digs. Lea Beckemeyer had 11 kills and Rachelle Knapp added 10. Jackie Derwort contributed 12 digs while Amy Henken had 41 assists and 10 digs.

Even though there were some long rallies and the match lasted about 90 minutes, the outcome was never really in doubt.

The Lady Panthers bolted to early leads in all three games and had control throughout, allowing the Otahkians to lead only briefly all night.

"Getting early leads in each game really helped," said Ralston. "I thought we were very well prepared for what we thought SEMO would do and the kids executed very well."

While there is still a long way to go in the OVC season, Gannon knows the Otahkians can afford no more slips if they want to win a sixth consecutive title.

"We have our backs to the wall," she said. "We pretty much have to win all the rest of our OVC matches and hope somebody beats Eastern Illinois."