OTAHKS MAKE IT 30 STRAIGHT

Southeast Missouri State University volleyball coach Cindy Gannon realizes her Otahkians are a marked team these days.

Considering the way Southeast has dominated Ohio Valley Conference volleyball in recent seasons, every OVC opponent is gunning for the Otahkians. Every league foe is ready to give Southeast its best shot.

Sunday afternoon at Houck Field House, it was Tennessee Tech's turn to try and knock off the OVC's top dog. And the Golden Eagles certainly gave it a good effort, winning the first game.

But in the end, all Tech turned out to be for Southeast was OVC regular-season victim No. 30 in a row. The Otahkians prevailed 7-15, 15-8, 15-5, 15-9.

Southeast, which has not lost an OVC regular-season match since October of 1995, improved to 10-4 overall and 2-0 in league play. Tech is 6-6 overall, 1-1 in conference action.

"Tech is a good team. Really good. And they played real well," said Gannon, whose squad has won the past four OVC regular-season titles. "We came out a little flat. I think we took them lightly but they were unstoppable that first game.

"Every team is shooting for us, wanting to give us their best shot. We have to make sure we're ready to play every match."

With Tech's tall front line hammering home one kill after another, the fired-up Golden Eagles rolled in game one.

"After the first game, I told them (the Otahkians) we had to step up. We weren't fundamentally executing," Gannon said. "We played a lot better the last three games."

Tech did manage to hold early leads in each of the remaining three games, but Southeast was able to come back each time.

The Otahkians trailed 4-1 in game two but scored 11 of the next 13 points. Southeast again fell behind 4-1 in game three and later trailed 5-4 before reeling off 13 straight points. In the final game, the Otahks trailed 5-4 before taking charge.

Freshman Krista Haukap led the offense with 22 kills as she was named the Southwestern Bell Wireless Player of the Match.

"Krista had a good match. She's played well for a freshman so far," said Gannon.

Angie Aschoff had 14 kills and 11 digs while Jackie Derwort had 13 kills and 14 digs. Setter Tuba Meto handed out 45 assists to go along with seven kills and 11 digs.

Lisa Dissell and Rachel Melchiorre both had 12 kills to lead the Golden Eagles.

"We're young and we're still learning, but I think we're improving every match," said Gannon. "We just have to keep working to get better."

The Otahkians will return to action Tuesday night when they travel to Tennessee-Martin for an OVC match.

Southeast will be back at home this weekend, facing Morehead State Friday night and Eastern Kentucky Saturday afternoon.