GANNON: SE WIN OVER ARKANSAS BIGGEST IN SCHOOL'S D-1 HISTORY

Southeast Missouri State University's volleyball team has picked up countless big wins over the past decade, as evidenced by the Otahkians' domination of the Ohio Valley Conference during that span.

But Southeast coach Cindy Gannon believes the Otahkians have notched no larger victories than Wednesday night's upset of nationally-ranked Arkansas.

The Razorbacks came to Cape Girardeau rated 22nd in the country. They left with a 15-12, 15-11, 15-13 setback that delighted the more than 350 fans at Houck Field House.

Southeast won its 12th straight match and improved to 19-5. The Otahkians have won 18 of their past 19 matches. Arkansas fell to 18-5."This was huge, probably the biggest win in our program's history since we've been Division I," said an excited Gannon. "It's the first time we've beaten a nationally ranked team and now we probably won't have any more come back here to play us."But to get national attention, you have to play nationally ranked teams. We started the season playing three (in the Colorado State Tournament) and we lost to all three, but it only helped us get better."The Otahkians actually gave 12th-ranked Colorado State a major scare in that early-season tournament before losing in five games. But there was no denying them Wednesday night."We were so pumped up for this match," said senior setter Amy Henken. "We played Colorado State earlier and took them to five and we really thought we could win this one."Everybody played so well. This should definitely give us some (national) respect."Said junior outside hitter Leah Beckemeyer, "We've worked for this for a long time, to beat a nationally ranked team. We played Colorado State close and tonight everybody played great."Southeast was led offensively by the hard-hitting one-two punch of Beckemeyer and fellow junior outside hitter Krista Haukap.

Arkansas had few answers for that duo all night. Haukap powered home 28 kills and had a hitting percentage of .533. Beckemeyer had 21 kills and hit .486."Krista and Leah were both tremendous," Gannon said. "I thought we probably played the best match we have all year. That's what it took because Arkansas is outstanding and has some really great players."Haukap moved into fourth place on Southeast's career kills list as she now has 1,340 kills. She has the second-most kills recorded since the Otahkians moved up to Division I in 1991, trailing only Pam Kirsch, who had 1,487 kills.

Angie Aschoff added 13 kills and a team-high four service aces for the Otahkians, who got 13 digs from Haukap and 10 from Emily Johnson. Henken dished out 63 assists running the Southeast offense.

Eftila Tanellari paced Arkansas with 18 kills while Yarleen Santiago had 15 and Ashanti Taylor added 14.

The Otahkians had decent control in every game, with Arkansas hanging just close enough to make things interesting. Even though the match ended in the minimum of three games, it took a bit more than 90 minutes, which shows how competitive the action was.

Southeast led much of the way in the first game before Arkansas rallied for a 12-12 tie. But the Otahkians scored the final three points, the winner coming on a Beckemeyer kill.

The Otahkians broke away from a 5-5 tie in the second game to assume command and again closed things out, 15-11, on a Beckemeyer kill.

Then in the third game, Southeast led virtually the entire way before Arkansas pulled to within 14-13. But once again Beckemeyer powered home a kill to end the game and match."This is just a great night for the Southeast volleyball program," Gannon said. "It's definitely a big step for us and now we have to continue to build on it."Southeast will resume OVC play this weekend, hitting the road to take on Morehead State Friday night and Eastern Kentucky Saturday afternoon. The Otahkians lead the league with a 10-1 record.