Otahk soccer captures its first OVC title

Thanks to a 1-0 Murrary State loss to Tennessee Tech Saturday, the Southeast Missouri State soccer Otahkians claimed their first Ohio Valley Conference regular-season championship in their three-year history.

Southeast (14-1 overall, 4-0 OVC) will be the host of the OVC Tournament on Nov. 9-11.

On Friday, the Otahkians knocked off Creighton for the second time this season with a 2-1 victory in overtime.

Valerie Henderson scored the first goal off a corner kick from Marla Gianino, who established a school record with her eighth and ninth assists of the season.

With less 2:09 remaining in the game, Creighton tied the game 1-1 on a goal from Reginal Moench.

Just 3:04 into the overtime, Heather Reding scored her first collegiate goal. Gianino and Katie Huesling assisted on the goal on another corner-kick situation.

SEMO volleyball sweeps

RICHMOND, Ky. -- Southeast Missouri State University's volleyball team swept Eastern Kentucky Saturday in Ohio Valley Conference play.

Southeast, which bounced back from a sweep at the hands of Morehead State on Friday, rolled to a 30-25, 30-24, 30-24 victory.

Emily Johnson led Southeast (12-11 overall, 8-5 OVC) with 18 kills. Suzanne Gundlach added 12 kills and Jessica Hopt and Bobbi Carlile both finished with 11. Carlile had a team-high 14 digs while Emily Scannell dished out 45 assists.

Becky Galati had 10 kills for Eastern Kentucky (12-10, 7-6).

OVC cross country

RICHMOND, Ky. -- Southeast Missouri State University women's cross country team fell six points short of an Ohio Valley Conference title in one of the closest races in recent memory.

The Otahkians' 78 points was just shy of women's champion Eastern Illinois (72) and runner-up Eastern Kentucky (76).

Sophomore Kaci Pilcher (18:38) led the women with a fifth-place medal, while senior Amy Arteme (19:21) was 15th in the 5K race.

Kris Woolf (16th, 19:22), Jen Burke (20th, 19:30), Anna Verseman (22nd, 19:33), Jessie Thompson (25th, 19:40), Carmen Owens (35th, 20:20), and Colleen Burke (42nd, 20:49) rounded out the scoring for the Otahkians.

Eastern Illinois (31) completed the championship sweep in the men's division as Southeast finished fifth with 178 points.

Danny Copeland (25th, 27:45) paced the Indians in the 8K race.

Other placers were Blake Popp (27th, 27:55), Jared Tanz (36th, 28:37), Brian Whitehead (38th, 28:45), Chad Sierman (50th, 29:51) and Jason Crawford (55th, 31:02).

Jason Bialka of Eastern Illinois won the men's individual title, while Karen Lutes of Morehead State took the women's title.

-- From staff reports