Redhawks volleyball upends OVC leader

The Southeast Missouri State volleyball team continued its late-season surge by beating the Ohio Valley Conference leader.

After a tight first two games, the Redhawks took control and eased past visiting Tennessee Tech on Friday night.

The 26-24, 22-25, 25-17, 25-19 victory was the fifth straight win for the Redhawks.

"Everything was clicking for us," senior outside hitter Aubrey Dondlinger said.

Southeast (12-11, 10-5) moved into a three-way tie for third place in the 10-team OVC.

Tech, (15-10, 12-3) which had its seven-match winning streak snapped, routed Southeast 25-13, 25-21, 25-12 on Sept. 27 in Cookeville, Tenn.

Friday's result continued to show how much the Redhawks have improved over the course of the season.

Southeast coach Renata Nowacki said, "Everything we're doing is 180 degrees from where we were."

Dondlinger led Southeast's attack with 18 kills.

Sophomore outside hitter Claire Keaton followed with 14 kills and junior outside hitter Amanda Rickhoff added 10.

Junior setter Sarah Barth, the OVC co-setter of the week, had 46 assists, 11 digs, seven kills and three service aces.

"Sarah did a fabulous job of running the offense," Nowacki said.

Junior libero Molly Davis led in digs with 21.

The Redhawks play their final home match today against Jacksonville State at 2 p.m.

Southeast's three seniors -- Dondlinger, Alyssa Aston and Kim Unnerstall -- will be recognized before the contest.

Davis receives honor

Davis was named to the CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VII first team Thursday.

Davis is the first Southeast volleyball player to achieve the honor since Pam Kirsch in 1992.

Davis leads the Redhawks and ranks fifth in the OVC in digs. She ranks third on the school's career digs list with 1,557 and is just 80 digs away from first place. She is the school's all-time Division I leader in digs.

Academically, Davis has a perfect 4.0 grade-point average while majoring in sport management. She is a recipient of the OVC's highest academic award, the OVC Medal of Honor, for having the top GPA in her sport.

Davis now is eligible for Academic All-America consideration.

All-OVC soccer

Three Southeast soccer players have been selected to all-OVC teams based on voting by the league's coaches and sports information directors.

Senior forward Casey Kraft was named to the all-conference first team, sophomore midfielder Kristi Frick made the second team and sophomore midfielder Mabel Velarde made the all-newcomer squad.

Kraft, second-team all-OVC in 2006, scored four of Southeast's nine goals this season. She missed several games due to injuries, but ranks second in the OVC in goals per game.

Frick scored one goal and helped lead a defense that allowed only 16 goals, the second-lowest total in the OVC.

Velarde, a transfer from Lee University, led the Redhawks in minutes played and was third in shots. She had one assist.