SEMO VOLLEYBALL TEAM, STILL SAVORING TOURNEY WIN, AWAITS NCAA PAIRINGS

As Southeast Missouri State University's volleyball team anxiously waits to find out its opponent in the NCAA Tournament, coach Cindy Gannon and her Otahkians are still savoring their Ohio Valley Conference Tournament title.

The Otahkians had a subpar -- for them -- regular OVC season, losing five matches and finishing third. But by late Saturday afternoon, that was just a distant memory.

Southeast's three-game sweep of host and top seed Eastern Illinois gave the Otahkians the OVC Tournament title and an automatic berth into the NCAA tourney for the second time in three years.

Sunday night, when the NCAA pairings are released, the Otahkians will find out who and where their first-round opponent will be.

"We're just very excited about the opportunity to represent Southeast in the NCAA Tournament," said Gannon. "We just had a great (OVC) tournament and now we're ready to play whoever we're paired up against."

Having won five straight OVC regular-season titles entering this season, the Otahkians were favored to make it six in a row.

But Gannon knew overcoming the loss of setter Tuba Meto -- the OVC Player of the Year last season -- would not be easy.

"We have a young team and we've struggled some to overcome the loss of Tuba," Gannon said. "We knew everybody had to step up.

"Even though we lost some (OVC) matches during the regular season, I knew all along we had never reached our potential as a team. We had good performances, but we had not clicked as a team."

The Otahkians certainly clicked over the weekend in Charleston, Ill. Seeded third, they swept all three of their matches, needing only nine total games to beat Morehead State, second-seeded Tennessee Tech and top-seeded Eastern Illinois.

"Coaches always try to have their team peak at tournament time," said Gannon. "I was hoping we would. This is a good group of kids and they've worked hard. And this is one of the most talented teams I've had. And we'll get just about everybody back next year."

Junior Jackie Derwort was named MVP of the OVC Tournament after compiling 46 kills, 51 digs, 15 assists, five blocks and two service aces. She was joined on the all-tournament team by junior setter Amy Henken and sophomore Krista Haukap.

"We wanted it bad and we proved that we are still Southeast Missouri and the top team in the conference," said Derwort.

Said Gannon, "This team has a big heart and they never gave up. Going into the tournament, they told me we would win it and that is exactly what they did."

Two years ago, in their only other NCAA Division I Tournament appearance, the Otahkians had to face a No. 1 regional seed. Southern Cal handily beat Southeast in the first round.

Gannon figures the Otahkians will have to face another high seed this time.

"I'm sure we'll draw a really high seed, maybe another No. 1," she said. "I don't really care who we play, we'll just try to represent Southeast the best we can."