MURRAY STATE ENDS OTAHKIANS' STREAK WITH STUNNING RALLY

Murray State's volleyball team didn't exactly come to Houck Field House with a full deck of cards Thursday night as the Lady Racers attempted to end Southeast Missouri State University's long conference winning streak.

The Otahkians entered the Ohio Valley Conference contest having won 34 straight regular-season OVC matches. Southeast has also won the past four regular-season OVC titles.

Murray came into the match without its standout setter, Dexter High product Kristi Hoffman, who suffered a broken finger last week and was on the bench in street clothes.

And when the Lady Racers dropped the first two games, it appeared as if the Otahkians would cruise to another league victory.

But a funny thing happened on the way to consecutive regular-season OVC win No. 35. The Lady Racers staged a stunning rally to upend the Otahkians 12-15, 6-15, 16-14, 15-11, 16-14 in front of 218 fans.

Murray improved to 9-6 overall and 3-1 in OVC play. The Otahkians fell to 14-5 and 6-1 as they also had a 16-match home winning streak snapped.

"This is the most excitement we've had this year," said Murray coach Sarah Dearworth. "We didn't have Kristi, but Mica (Wojinski) really stepped up.

"We were really hyped up for this match. Everybody shoots for SEMO because they've won so many in a row."

Southeast coach Cindy Gannon, while disappointed with the loss, was somewhat philosophical.

"It was a tough loss. We took it for granted in the third game, but you have to give Murray credit. They really battled," she said. "But the pressure is off now. To win that many in a row was a great accomplishment. Now we'll just have to start another streak."

Senior setter Tuba Meto had yet another triple-double for the Otahkians as she recorded 11 kills, 56 assists and 25 digs.

Krista Haukap paced the Otahkians offensively with 21 kills while Jackie Derwort added 11 kills.

Chandra Brashers and Sarah Ernst were Murray's power hitters with 24 and 23 kills, respectively. Wojinski, the setter who replaced Hoffman and drew praise from Dearworth, had 61 assists and 28 digs.

Southeast won a close first game 15-12 on a service ace by Meto and romped in the second game 15-6 as the Otahkians appeared headed for an easy victory.

It definitely looked like lights out for the Lady Racers when they lost a lead and fell behind 13-10 in game three.

But all of a sudden, the contest turned. Murray, facing a match point against it at 14-13, scored three straight points to win the game 16-14.

The Otahkians again appeared to take control in game four, leading 5-1, 8-3 and 11-8. But Murray scored the last seven points to prevail 15-11 to set up the decisive fifth game, which features rally scoring (a point is awarded on every rally, not just to the serving team).

Murray led much of the fifth game, including 11-8, but the Otahkians rallied ahead 12-11 and later held two match points at 14-12.

But once again the Lady Racers stormed back, scoring the last four points to prevail 16-14. Liz Hettman served all four points, including two aces. Then Ernst had a kill for the match.