Otahkians open OVC schedule

Southeast Missouri State University's volleyball team is off to somewhat of a slow start this year, which is not all that unusual.

Coach Cindy Gannon's philosophy has always been to play rugged non-league competition early in the season in order for the Otahkians to become as ready as possible for the start of their Ohio Valley Conference schedule.

Tonight, Gannon will begin to see if the tough early slate pays dividends. The Otahkians, who have dominated OVC volleyball since joining the league in 1991, play their first conference match of 2001 when Austin Peay visits Houck Field House for a 7 p.m. start that will also serve as Southeast's home opener.

"We're really excited to have our first home match and we're looking forward to starting conference play," said Gannon, whose squad has won eight of 10 OVC regular-season championships, including the last two. "This is a big week for us."

In addition to tonight's contest, the Otahkians will have two other conference home matches this week, against Eastern Kentucky Friday night and surprising Morehead State Saturday afternoon. Morehead has already upset preseason OVC favorite Tennessee-Martin and is 2-0 in the league after sweeping its first road series since 1995.

The Otahkians are 2-4 overall after winning one of three matches at both the Lamar and Wisconsin-Milwaukee tournaments (they had a scheduled tournament at Arkansas canceled over the weekend because of the terrorist attacks on the East Coast).

Gannon knew things might be a bit rocky early for her young squad after it lost its top two players from last year in standout hitters Krista Haukap and Lea Beckemeyer.

"The first tournament I thought we showed some promise and the second one we didn't play as well as we should have, but that's part of our youth," Gannon said. "This team is just trying to find a niche and all the players are trying to find out what their roles on the team are.

"I'm still confident in this team. We are a good volleyball team, we just have to figure out how to get there and we will."

Gannon expects a tough match tonight from Austin Peay, which will also be opening its OVC schedule. The Lady Govs are 4-3 overall.

"Austin Peay has been playing well and it should be a good match," she said.

Tonight will mark the first opportunity for area volleyball fans to see the new NCAA scoring system that went into effect this year.

Under the new system, a point is awarded on every rally and the winner of a game is the first team to 30 points (with at least a two-point advantage) except in the fifth game of a best-of-five match, when only 15 points are needed.

In the past, points on rallies could only be won by the serving team and all games lasted only until one team scored 15 points, with at least a two-point advantage.

"It's very interesting," said Gannon of the new scoring system. "You really have to be concerned about taking care of the ball. Unforced errors are crucial."

Another new rule is that a served ball that contacts the net and continues to the opponent's side of the net will remain in play.