OTAHKS SAVE BEST FOR TENN. TECH

Last year's two Ohio Valley Conference volleyball champions got together in Cape Girardeau Saturday afternoon for an early-season showdown.

Score one for the home team.

Southeast Missouri State University, which has won the past five OVC regular-season titles, knocked off 1997 OVC Tournament champion Tennessee Tech 15-5, 16-14, 15-5 in front of 105 fans at Houck Field House.

The Otahkians evened their overall record at 4-4 and improved their OVC mark to 3-1 with their third consecutive conference victory.

Tech, which lost at Eastern Illinois Friday night, fell to 6-4 overall, 0-2 in the league.

"We came a long way tonight," said an obviously pleased Southeast coach Cindy Gannon. "We played in our comfort zone instead of worrying about what Tech was doing.

"I'd say this is probably the best match we've played all year long. We still have room for improvement, but we've come a long way and today is a big step in confidence for us."

Krista Haukap was named the Southwestern Bell Wireless Player of the Game as she led the Otahkians in kills with 14 and digs with 16.

"This is a huge win," said Haukap. "The kind of sets the tone for the rest of the conference.

"The loss to Morehead State (last weekend) was kind of a bummer, but we have to use it as a learning experience."

Haukap said all the Otahkians were pointing to Saturday's match.

"We were really keyed up for this one," she said. "I'm kind of surprised we won in three (games). They battled tough, but we played really well."

Jackie Derwort had 13 kills and 11 digs while Lea Beckemeyer added 12 kills. Angie Aschoff had 15 digs and setter Amy Henken came through with nine kills, eight digs and 45 assists.

Lisa Dissel paced Tech with 18 kills and 17 digs while Brandy Best added 11 kills.

After Southeast rolled in the first game, Tech put up a serious challenge in the second game. The Golden Eagles fell behind 8-3 but rallied for a 14-13 lead.

Derwort's kill tied things at 14-14. Then, after each team gained three side outs, the Otahkians scored the final two points on Derwort's serve as Tech made two straight errors.

Tech grabbed an early 3-0 lead in the third game before the Otahkians got going and closed out the match with ease.

Next up for the Otahkians will be another key OVC match as Eastern Illinois comes to Houck Tuesday night.

"That's another huge match for us," Gannon said. "Eastern Illinois is undefeated in the conference right now and they're obviously playing really well."