Redhawks soccer team captures first OVC win

The Southeast Missouri State soccer team finally notched its first Ohio Valley Conference win of the season Friday.

Southeast, the defending OVC regular-season and tournament champion, beat host Austin Peay 2-0.

The Redhawks improved to 2-7-3 overall and 1-3-2 in the OVC.

Southeast escaped the OVC basement and moved up to eighth place in the nine-team league with five points (in conference games, squads are awarded three points for a win and one point for a tie).

More importantly, the Redhawks moved within two points of three teams who are tied for fourth through sixth in the OVC.

The top six finishers earn berths in the conference tournament, with the third- and fourth-place squads hosting first-round games.

The Redhawks matched their season-high goal output Friday. They entered play having scored just five goals in 11 games while being shut out seven times.

Senior Casey Kraft scored both Southeast goals against Austin Peay (4-10-1, 1-3-1), which fell into last place with four points.

Kraft's goals came in the opening 19 minutes of the first half. One was unassisted and one was on a penalty kick. Kraft leads the Redhawks with three goals.

Sophomore keeper Jessica Beckham was not forced to make a save during her second shutout.

Southeast held a 12-6 advantage in shots.

The Redhawks play at Tennessee Tech on Sunday in a key OVC contest. Tech is one of the teams with seven points that Southeast is chasing.

Volleyball falls on road

The Southeast volleyball squad was swept at Murray State 25-19, 25-22, 25-14.

Southeast (7-9, 5-4) and Murray (8-11, 5-4) are tied for fourth place in the 10-team OVC.

Sarah Barth had a double-double for the Redhawks with 27 assists and 11 digs.

Claire Keaton paced the Redhawks with nine kills, while Aubrey Dondlinger led with 12 digs.

Becca Lamb and Logan Su had 17 and 16 kills, respectively, for the Racers.

Notre Dame Regional High School graduate Ashley Nenninger, a sophomore starter for the Racers, had two kills.

Southeast plays at Tennessee-Martin today.

Runners first, second

The Southeast cross country teams tuned up for the OVC Championships by hosting a race at the Cape Girardeau Jaycee Municipal Golf Course.

Only two other schools — Memphis and Eastern Kentucky, which entered just a women's squad — joined Southeast's men and women in meet.

Southeast's men beat Memphis in what amounted to a dual 43-16. Southeast's women were second with 35 points, behind Eastern Kentucky (22) and ahead of Memphis (76).

Southeast's men captured the top four individual spots, led by Brandon Karcher. His winning time over 8 kilometers was 26 minutes, 5.7 seconds.

Dustin Davis was second (26:37.1), with Nate Shipley third (26:40) and Jason Lumpkin fourth (26:49.4). Also in the top 10 for the Redhawks were Chris Loseman (sixth, 27:04.8) and Cody Martin (eighth, 27:56.8).

Juli Koengestein paced Southeast's women with a second-place time of 19:10.8 over 5 kilometers.

Others in the top 10 for the Redhawks were Monica Noble (sixth, 19:38.4), Liz Speicher (seventh, 19:41.2) and Linnea Woldtvedt (eighth, 19:51.4).

The Jaycee Municipal Golf Course will be the site of the OVC Championships on Nov. 1.

— From staff reports