Former players enjoy contest despite being swept

A few have gotten married, some have gone into coaching and several still live in the area -- but one constant is that they're as competitive as ever.

That pretty well summed up the 11-player Southeast Missouri State alumni volleyball team that took on the current Redhawks squad Saturday morning in an exhibition match at Houck Field House.

As might have been expected, the 2005 Redhawks -- who have been practicing for several weeks -- prevailed, but not before getting a solid workout from the alumni, who fell 30-26, 30-22, 30-22 in front of about 100 fans.

"It was exciting to see them come back, and we had good, competitive games," Southeast first-year coach Renata Nowacki said.

The alumni featured players -- many of them former all-conference performers and several of them well represented in the school record books -- whose competitive days at Southeast ranged from 1991 to 2004. They naturally showed some rust, but also plenty of spunk.

"I was hoping we could take a game or two," said Lea Beckemeyer, who played at Southeast from 1998 through 2000 and ranks third all-time in kills. "We're all still pretty competitive, and we wanted to win.

"But it was a blast, a lot of fun, although it's not fun to lose. Hopefully we can do this every year."

Said Amy (Henken) Sheehan, who played in 1998 and 1999, "We're competitive, and we didn't want to lose. It's not fun. But this was a lot of fun, to see a lot of the people you played with and coach Gannon."

Cindy Gannon, who coached Southeast the past 16 years before stepping down after last season to assume a full-time administrative role at the university, served as the alumni squad's unofficial coach Saturday.

"It was really a lot of fun for me, to see all these people," said Gannon. She added with a laugh, "Some are probably playing in recreational leagues, but they're probably not in the best of shape. If we could have practiced, maybe we could have won."

The alumni led much of the opening game, then also got off to a strong start in the second game before faltering. The Redhawks led all the way in the third and final game as the sauna-like conditions in Houck Field House no doubt took a toll on the older players.

"It was hot in here, and I'm sure they're in better shape than us," said a smiling Beckemeyer.

While Nowacki, an assistant under Gannon the past several seasons, set up the alumni match to afford former players the chance to become familiar with the current program, she believes it also greatly benefited her squad by allowing the Redhawks to perform under match-like conditions in their only exhibition.

"The most exciting thing for us is everybody got to play and contribute," Nowacki said. "We've got 11 players and all of them will help us. Going into our first match next weekend, we needed this."

Other former Southeast players who participated Saturday were Ashley Smith (2003 and 2004), Emily Scannell (2000 through 2003), Suzanne Gundlach (2000 through 2003), Emily Wahlman (1999 through 2002), Jackie (Derwort) Haines (1996 through 1999), Kimberly (Aggertt) Smith (1995 through 1998), Nicole Gonzalez (1994 through 1997), Erin (Willrich) Hoffman (1993 through 1996) and Jennifer Hener (1991 through 1994).

"I thought everything went really well, and we had a nice crowd," Nowacki said. "I think this was a good way for us to introduce the alumni to the new coaching staff, the team, playing as Redhawks for the first time.

"It's just a chance for the former players to get involved, and the plan is to do this every year."