Southeast Missouri State volleyball player Coon garners OVC honors

Emily Coon played a major role in Southeast Missouri State's resurgent volleyball season.

Coon was recognized for that Wednesday when the sophomore middle blocker was named to the all-Ohio Valley Conference team.

One 14-player squad was selected instead of first and second teams. No other Southeast player was picked.

The OVC's postseason honors, voted on by the league's coaches and sports information directors, were announced on the eve of the conference tournament in Morehead, Ky.

Coon leads the OVC with 135 blocks. She also is among Southeast's top offensive threats with 260 kills to rank second on the squad. Her .306 hitting percentage during conference matches is third in the league.

Coon recorded an OVC season-high in attack percentage when she hit .619 with 14 kills in 21 attempts and only one error against Eastern Illinois on Oct. 4.

"Emily has done a great job for us. She is an outstanding blocker and hitter that really threatens the other team," Southeast first-year coach Julie Folliard said in a release.

Major OVC awards went to Tennessee State's Shaquita Williams (player of the year), Tennessee-Martin's Kasey Elswick (defensive player of the year), Morehead State's Laura McDermott (freshman of the year) and Tennessee-Martin's Darin McClure (coach of the year).

OVC regular-season champion Morehead State and runner-up Tennessee State both had a league-high three picks on the all-conference squad.

Tournament starts

Southeast is in the six-team OVC tournament for the first time since 2008.

"We are excited to be involved in the tournament, and we feel we can make our presence known," Folliard said.

The Redhawks, picked ninth in the 11-team league, finished fourth. They play fifth-seeded Eastern Kentucky at 6 p.m. today. Southeast won both regular-season matches with the Colonels in four games.

A win by the Redhawks sends them into Friday's 6 p.m. semifinal against top-seeded Morehead State, the tournament host.

Southeast lost both meetings to the Eagles this year, in four games at home and five games on the road.

Today's other first-round contest pits third-seeded Tennessee-Martin against sixth-seeded Jacksonville State.

Second-seeded Tennessee State joined Morehead State in receiving a bye.

The championship match is set for 5 p.m. Saturday. The winner earns the OVC's automatic NCAA tournament berth.