Redhawks soccer tabbed for 7th in OVC poll

The Southeast Missouri State soccer team has been picked to finish seventh in the Ohio Valley Conference this season.

Defending OVC tournament champion Murray State is the preseason favorite in voting by the league's coaches and sports information directors that was announced Tuesday.

The Racers received seven of 18 first-place votes and 117 total points. Morehead State was picked second, nabbing the most first-place votes -- nine -- and 116 points.

Tennessee-Martin, which tied with Morehead for the 2009 OVC regular-season title, received the other two first-place votes and was third with 86 points.

Tennessee Tech was fourth with 77 points, followed by Eastern Kentucky (74), Eastern Illinois (70), Southeast (60), Jacksonville State (32) and Austin Peay (16).

Southeast went 8-7-3 overall and a seventh-place 2-3-3 in the OVC last season. The Redhawks failed to make the six-team conference tournament for the second straight year.

The Redhawks open the season Aug. 22 at home against Belmont. They have two home exhibition matches, Aug. 14 against Evansville and Aug. 19 against McKendree.

Assistants hired

Southeast volleyball coach Renata Heard filled out her staff recently with the hiring of two assistants.

Savanah Parra was an assistant at Bradley last season while Nikki Bucholz was a graduate assistant at East Stroudsburg in Pennsylvania.

They replace Jeremiah Larsen and Randi Raff, who left the program.

Parra played four years at Ohio University, helping lead the Bobcats to four Mid-American Conference titles. The former MAC setter of the year ranks in the top 10 at Ohio for every season and career setter and defensive category.

Bucholz was a four-time all-Northeast 10 Conference player at Franklin Pierce University, a Division II school in New Hampshire. She owns the school's career record in kills and blocks.

"I am very excited to welcome both Savannah and Nikki to the Redhawks volleyball program," Heard said in a release. "Both coaches were very successful as collegiate athletes and have very strong volleyball backgrounds."

Softball adds transfer

A transfer from the University of Oklahoma's nationally prominent program is the Southeast softball team's 12th recruit for the 2011 season.

Utility player Evan Sallis made just two starts for the Sooners in 2010 but started 39 games as a freshman in 2009, when she batted .281 and led OU with 19 stolen bases in 21 attempts. She will have two years of eligibility at Southeast.

Sallis, a native of Muskogee, Okla., compiled a career .267 average at OU, with 28 steals in 32 attempts. She committed just four errors.

"What Evan gives us is superior speed, the ability to reach base and make things happen offensively," Southeast coach Lana Richmond said in a release. "She's very versatile, having the ability to play all three outfield positions, second base and third."

Men's track honored

The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association has tabbed the Southeast men's track and field team as one of 73 NCAA Division I squads for All-Academic honors.

Southeast recorded a grade point average of 3.03 during the 2009-10 school year. A team must have at least a 3.000 GPA to be nominated. Southeast was the lone OVC squad honored.

-- From staff reports