Southeast eager to exact revenge

The Southeast Missouri State volleyball team will try to avoid a second straight first-round Ohio Valley Conference tournament loss.

For that to happen, the Redhawks will need to beat a squad that swept them in both regular-season meetings.

Southeast, seeded fifth for the six-team tournament, faces fourth-seeded Austin Peay at 7:30 p.m. today in Cookeville, Tenn.

Today's other match pits third-seeded Murray State against sixth-seeded Tennessee-Martin.

Host Tennessee Tech, the top seed, and No. 2 Morehead State earned byes into Friday's semifinals. The championship match is Saturday.

"We are anxious, excited," said Southeast coach Renata Nowacki, whose 2007 squad finished in a three-way tie for the OVC regular-season title, but was upset in the first round of the conference tournament. "I honestly think it's anybody's tournament."

Southeast (13-13, 11-7) placed fifth in the 10-team OVC, while Austin Peay (21-10, 13-5) tied for third.

Two of the Redhawks' losses came to the Govs, 25-22, 25-22, 25-18 on Oct. 11 in Cape Girardeau and 25-17, 25-22, 25-21 on Friday in Clarksville, Tenn.

"I give Austin Peay credit. They played very well against us," Nowacki said. "But neither time did we show up and play our type of volleyball.

"I think if we come to play, we'll have a very good opportunity."

The Redhawks have been hit hard by injuries -- 2007 first-team all-OVC hitter Karleigh DeLong has missed much of the year -- and inconsistency.

A five-match losing streak was followed by five straight wins before the Redhawks ended the regular season with losses in two of their final three contests.

If the Redhawks win today, they'll meet OVC regular-season co-champion Tennessee Tech (17-11, 14-4) in the semifinals.

Southeast and Tech split their two matches this year, the Eaglettes sweeping at home and the Redhawks winning in four games at home.

All-OVC honors

Southeast had two players receive all-OVC honors Wednesday as voted on by the league's coaches and sports information directors.

Senior outside hitter Aubrey Dondlinger made the all-conference first team, while sophomore outside hitter Claire Keaton made the second team.

Dondlinger, a member of last year's OVC all-newcomer squad, posted five double-doubles and is second on the team in kills with 2.86 per game. She reached double-figure kills 10 times, including nine of her last 10 matches. She also reached the 20-plus dig mark twice.

Keaton leads Southeast in kills and points, ranking seventh in the OVC with 3.27 kills per game and 3.65 points per game. She recorded a team-high eight double-doubles.

Tennessee Tech captured three of the OVC's four major awards with Leah Meffert (player of the year), Katie Kenline (defensive player of the year) and John Blair (coach of the year).

Murray State's Jade Guo was the freshman of the year.