Redhawks knock Eastern Illinois out of second-place tie in OVC standings

Arguably Southeast Missouri State's best performance of the season meant a surprisingly lopsided victory over one of the Ohio Valley Conference's top teams.

The Redhawks kicked off a four-match homestand to end the regular season Wednesday night by rolling past Eastern Illinois 30-28, 30-18, 30-21 at Houck Field House.

"It was awesome," said junior outside hitter Jessica Koeper, an all-OVC performer who leads the Redhawks in kills. "As a team, I think it was our best match of the season."

Added junior setter Jamie Baumstark: "It was definitely one of our best matches. We've improved a lot."

Southeast (13-14, 9-4 OVC) remained a solid fifth place in the 11-team conference, just a half-game out of fourth place and only 1 1/2 games out of second place. The Panthers (14-7, 10-3) fell out of a second-place tie.

"It's a really good win for us," said Southeast coach Renata Nowacki, who stopped short of calling it the Redhawks' best showing of the season.

But, added Nowacki: "I think we're gradually getting better every match. Our goal is to keep getting better and better leading up to the [OVC] tournament."

Koeper, a former Jackson High School standout who ranks as one of the OVC's top hitters, recorded her team-leading 16th double-double of the season with 11 kills and 20 digs.

Sophomore middle hitter Brenna Schlader led the Redhawks in kills with 13, and she also had a team-high six blocks.

Brittany Hastings, another sophomore outside hitter, added 11 kills, while senior outside hitter Jill Miller contributed nine kills, 14 digs and three service aces.

Senior Lauren Scannell, Southeast's defensive specialist at the libero position, had 16 digs, giving her double-figure dig totals in 31 consecutive matches.

Baumstark had 42 assists, nine digs and five blocks.

"Everyone did a great job tonight," Baumstark said.

The first game was tight, with Southeast clinging to one-point lead before Miller's kill closed out a 30-28 victory.

After that, the Redhawks dominated, rolling 30-18 and 30-21, the win punctuated by Koeper's emphatic kill on match point.

"We came out tonight on fire," Koeper said. "They beat us in five at their place, and we knew what we had to work on."

Southeast lost 3-2 on Oct. 4 in Charleston, Ill., and the Redhawks also recently dropped a five-game match at OVC leader Tennessee State. Otherwise, they might very well be contending for the regular-season title.

"We're in fifth place, but I don't think that indicates how we've played," Nowacki said. "Things are really tight between the top five teams."

The Redhawks host Tennessee Tech at 2 p.m. Saturday, then close out the regular season next week with home matches against Jacksonville State and Samford.

"We just want to keep improving every match heading into the tournament," Baumstark said. "The tournament has always been our main goal."

While Nowacki was pleased with Southeast's play Wednesday night, she believes the best is still to come for the Redhawks.

"We still haven't played our best match," she said. "Hopefully that will come in the tournament."

Jessica Ackerman led Eastern Illinois with 12 kills.