Redhawks rejoin tournament field after three-year absence

~ Southeast will face Eastern Illinois in the opening round of the OVC tournament.

The last time Southeast Missouri State qualified for the Ohio Valley Conference women's tennis tournament, in 2003, all but one OVC team made the field.

Things are much more difficult these days, with only six of the league's 11 squads getting in.

The Redhawks accomplished their major goal for coach Mark Elliott's first season by being one of those six qualifiers.

Sixth-seeded Southeast will play third-seeded Eastern Illinois at 10 a.m. today as the league tournament begins at the Centennial Sportsplex in Nashville, Tenn.

The semifinals are set for 10 a.m. Saturday, with the championship match at 10 a.m. Sunday.

"That was our big goal before the season, to make the conference tournament," Elliott said. "I think it's a great first step for our program."

After just missing qualifying last year -- Southeast tied for sixth but lost out on a tie-breaker -- the Redhawks captured sole possession of sixth place this season.

Southeast, 11-13 overall, went 5-5 in OVC matches.

The Redhawks lost 4-3 at Eastern Illinois (12-8, 7-3) on April 10, with one of their singles defeats going three sets, so today's rematch figures to basically be a toss-up.

"We had a very close match with them last time and it should be interesting," Elliott said.

In the earlier meeting against the Panthers, Southeast got singles wins from junior Bryce Kristal at No. 1, sophomore Julia Masotti at No. 4 and senior Kimmy Anderson at No. 6.

Eastern Illinois won two of the three doubles matches to take the doubles point, with Southeast's victory coming from the No. 3 team of Anderson and senior Luz Garcia.

Junior Drew Kristal, Southeast's No. 2 singles player, dropped a three-setter to the Panthers.

Bryce Kristal has the Redhawks' top record at 17-6 overall and 8-2 in OVC play.

Drew Kristal (13-10) and freshman No. 5 Elise Nattier (12-11) have Southeast's other overall winning marks.

Nattier (7-3), Anderson (6-4), Drew Kristal (5-5) and Masotti (5-5) have all at least broken even in conference play. Garcia rounds out the singles rotation at No. 3.

The Kristal twins have a 15-8 overall record at No. 1 doubles. Masotti and Nattier form the No. 2 doubles squad. All three Southeast doubles teams have losing OVC records.

Defending tournament champion Samford (13-4, 10-0) is the top seed after capturing the regular-season title without a loss. Murray State (14-5, 9-1) is seeded second.

Today's other first-round match pits No. 4 Tennessee-Martin against No. 5 Eastern Kentucky. Samford and Murray State received opening-round byes.

If the Redhawks beat Eastern Illinois, they will face Murray State in Saturday's semifinals. The Racers beat Southeast 7-0 on March 29 without dropping a set.

The tournament champion receives an automatic NCAA tournament berth.

Bryce Kristal recognized twice

Bryce Kristal was voted second-team all-OVC on Thursday by the league coaches, and earlier in the week she was one of seven OVC student-athletes selected to participate in the 2007 NCAA Leadership Conference on May 27 through 31 in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

Kristal, the Redhawks No. 1 player the past three years, is Southeast's first women's tennis player to earn any type of all-conference recognition since 1996.

"It's a really nice reward for Bryce," Elliott said. "I was hoping she would get it because she is very deserving."

The leadership conference is designed to provide NCAA student-athletes with a forum to openly discuss various issues that may affect them, while also providing them with the opportunity to enhance their leadership, communication, decision-making and problem-solving skills.

The conference, which consists of daily exercises and activities, involves approximately 325 student-athletes from Divisions I, II and III.