Southeast roundup: Redhawks cross country teams compete at OVC meet

The Eastern Kentucky men's and women's cross country teams claimed the top individual and team awards at Saturday's Ohio Valley Conference championship meet.

Two Southeast Missouri State runners earned all-conference honors at the race, which was hosted by Tennessee-Martin in Oxford, Alabama.

Southeast senior Rebekah Lawson's seventh-place finish earned her first-team all-conference honors. She finished the 5K race in 17:42.10. Senior Gloria Westlake was second-team all-conference with her 12th-place finish (17:57.30).

The Redhawks women's team finished fourth in the team standings.

Sophomore Megan Parks was 17th (18:12.69), freshman Angie Sumner was 22nd (18:20.19), senior and Central graduate Mary Dohogne was 38th (18:49.36), freshman Sydney O'Brien was 44th (19:02.93) and junior Kristen Richardet was 47th (19:08.19).

EKU won the women's race for the third year in a row and was led by senior Ann Eason, who won the race with a time of 17:04.73. The Colonels had five runners finish in the top 6.

EKU sophomore Ambrose Maritim won the men's race with a time of 23 minutes, 59.29 seconds. The Colonels claimed the first five spots.

EKU won the men's title for the ninth consecutive year. The Southeast men's team claimed sixth place out of the 12 OVC teams.

Junior Shane Brown was the Redhawks' top finisher. He completed the race in 25:30.6 seconds for 26th place.

Southeast's next five runners finished less than a minute behind Brown.

Freshman Nathan Cook was 32nd (25:50.62), sophomore Marc Maton was 34th (25:58.91), freshman Tyler Beaman was 42nd (26:11.66), senior Ryan Anderson was 43rd (26:12.48) and senior and Jackson graduate Tyson Stoverink was 44th (26:16.73). Senior Tyler Holmes was 50th in 26:32.57.

The Redhawks will compete in the NCAA Midwest Regional on Nov. 14.

Volleyball

The Southeast Missouri State volleyball team completed an Illinois road trip with a .500 record in the Ohio Valley Conference.

The Redhawks split five-set matches on the road against Eastern Illinois and SIU Edwardsville over the weekend to land at 6-6 in the OVC and 10-16 on the season.

Southeast defeated Eastern Illinois for the second time this season. The Redhawks won 25-20, 25-18, 18-25, 20-25, 15-12 at Lantz Arena in Charleston, Illinois.

Southeast faced a 7-2 deficit in the first set before knotting it at 10-all with help from five EIU attack errors.

The Redhawks never trailed after a kill by senior Andrea Baylin broke the tie. Southeast finished with just one attack error and had 13 blocks.

The second set featured 11 ties. Consecutive kills by sophomore Katarina Rotta snapped an 18-18 tie that were part of a 7-0 run to close out the set.

Southeast's offensive attack struggled in the third and fourth sets. The Redhawks hit -.027 and -.042 with 16 total kills.

There were five ties in the fifth set, but Southeast never trailed and the team hit .308 with just two errors.

Senior Kelsey Keeve had three kills in the set, including match point. Baylin and freshmen Krissa Gearring and Jessica McElderry each chipped in two.

SIUE avenged a sweep from the Redhawks two weeks ago with a 25-17, 22-25, 23-25, 25-18, 15-12 win at the Vadalabene Center.

Southeast trailed the entire first set and hit -.059 with just six kills.

The Redhawks held on for a 3-point win in the second set. They led by seven points late, but SIUE outscored them 7-2 to end it, including scoring twice on set point.

There were five ties in the third set. The Redhawks snapped a 20-20 tie with a pair of kills by Madalyn Werths and a service ace from Jade Mortimer before an SIUE kill and block pulled the Cougars back within one.

An attack error by SIUE ended the set and gave the Redhawks a 2-1 advantage.

Once SIUE broke a 4-4 tie in the fourth set the Redhawks never regained a lead. They trimmed it to 12-10, but the Cougars used a 7-2 run to take its largest lead of the game. Southeast pulled within five points before a pair of kills by the Cougars forced the fifth set.

The Redhawks held a 6-3 advantage in the final set but a 5-0 run put SIUE ahead 8-6. Southeast pulled within a point at 12-11 on a kill by Nzingha Clarke but that was at close as it would get.

Masterson finished with 17 kills, Baylin finished with 14 kills and 15 digs and Werths had 12 kills. Krissa Gearring had 18 digs.

The Redhawks host Austin Peay and Murray State on Friday and Saturday.