Otahkians overwhelm Murray St. with sweep

Southeast Missouri State University's volleyball team had been waiting for a match like this.

The Otahkians, who have struggled much of the season, finally put it all together Tuesday night, handing Ohio Valley Conference leader Murray State its first league loss with a surprising three-game sweep.

"We've been up and down this year but we've tried to stay positive, and I knew it would just be a matter of time," Southeast coach Cindy Gannon said. "And to beat them in three will give us a lot of confidence."

An appreciative season-high crowd of nearly 400 fans at Houck Field House saw the Otahkians roll 30-26, 30-25, 30-15 and end the Racers' school-record 14-match winning streak.

MSU, 14-5 overall, remained in first place in the OVC at 8-1. Southeast, which entered the match sixth in the 11-team league, is 7-16 overall and 6-4 in conference play.

"That was amazing," Southeast senior outside hitter Sarah Frost said. "We knew we had it in us, and we just put it all together."

Said senior setter Emily Scannell, "We have been waiting all year to just have everything click. We were so fired up for this game. We knew all about their winning streak and them being No. 1 in the conference."

Frost and fellow senior outside hitter Suzanne Gundlach pounded the Racers from both flanks. Frost had 10 kills while Gundlach led the way with 12 kills and had an impressive .522 hitting percentage.

Freshman Jessica Wilfong added seven kills and hit a sizzling .700. Junior Ashley Smith followed with six kills, while Scannell and freshman Jamie Baumstark added five apiece to Southeast's balanced attack. The Otahkians hit a solid .359 as a team.

Gundlach led the way in digs with 13, Scannell had 29 assists, and Smith and Baumstark added three aces apiece.

"We had a lot of people contribute," Gannon said. "We really played well."

Paige Sun led the Racers with 19 kills but the Racers hit just .207 as a team.

The Otahkians won a back-and-forth first game 30-26, which gave them plenty of momentum and they controlled the rest of the match.

Southeast led most of the way in the second game and held on 30-25, then romped in the third game and closed out the match 30-15.

"We just believed in each other and knew we could do it," Frost said.

Now the key, said Scannell, is for the Otahkians to build on the big victory. They'll look to keep things rolling Friday night when Tennessee-Martin visits Houck Field House.

"We're definitely going to use this to our advantage," Scannell said.

mmishow@semissourian.com

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