Lady Bears' rally foils Otahkians' season opener

Southeast won the first two sets but dropped the match.

By Marty Mishow ~ Southeast Missourian

Southeast Missouri State University volleyball coach Cindy Gannon was disappointed but far from discouraged after the Otahkians suffered a tough five-game loss in their season opener Wednesday night.

More than 300 fans at Houck Field House saw Southwest Missouri State drop the first two games but rally for a 26-30, 27-30, 31-29, 30-14, 16-14 victory in a match that lasted approximately 2 1/2 hours.

"It's a tough loss. They all hurt, but we did some really good things tonight and I do not want them to get down at all," Gannon said. "I asked my team to play their hearts out and leave it all on the court. We did that."

SMS coach Melissa Stokes was also encouraged by the play of her squad in its first match of the season. The Bears won last year's Missouri Valley Conference title -- going 27-6 overall and 17-1 in league play -- but graduated four senior starters, including an All-American.

In addition, Stokes said the Bears' top outside hitter had to remain in Springfield Wednesday because of an illness.

"We had to move some people around and we had one day to practice that lineup," Stokes said. "We already had a lot thrown at us losing the four senior starters, then this happened. I'm proud of the way we battled back.

"But I have to give credit to SEMO. That's the best defensive team I've seen them have. If they play like that, they'll win a lot of matches. I feel very fortunate to win. We got outplayed a lot of the match."

Junior Jill Miller led Southeast's attack with 19 kills. Sophomore Jessica Koeper, a Jackson High School product, added 16 kills and sophomore Jamie Baumstark contributed 10 kills to go along with 45 assists from her setter position.

Defensively, junior Lauren Scannell led with 24 digs, followed by Koeper with 22 and Miller with 13.

SMS got 19 kills from sophomore Erin O'Conner, 15 from sophomore Sarah Lansing and 13 from junior Sabrina Apker. Senior Jane Parker had 60 assists and 26 digs.

A back-and-forth first game saw Southeast prevail 30-26, then the Otahkians led most of the way in game two before holding on 30-27. They appeared to be in a great shape to start the season with a victory.

But the Bears, after squandering an eight-point lead, pulled out a 31-29 win in game three. SMS then rolled 30-14 in game four, forcing a winner-take-all game to 15 points, with a two-point margin of victory required, just like in all the games.

With the squads tied 14-14, Southeast was hit with a rare out of rotation call, then the Otahkians were nailed with a net call as SMS prevailed 16-14.

"It was tough to lose that way, but we shouldn't have put ourselves in that situation," Gannon said. "We had it, but I think youth got us at times. But I'm encouraged by what I saw."

The Otahkians will play their first road matches this weekend as they compete in the Ball State Tournament in Muncie, Ind. Play will be held Friday and Saturday.