Southeast roundup: Redhawks trip in OVC tourney semis

The Southeast Missouri State soccer team saw its season end Friday in the semifinals of the Ohio Valley Conference tournament.

Third-seeded Austin Peay scored on a late penalty kick and beat the second-seeded Redhawks 3-1 in Morehead, Ky. The squads tied for second place in the OVC's regular season.

Southeast, which received a first-round bye in the six-team event, ends the year with an 8-9-1 record.

Austin Peay (15-5-1), which never even had won an OVC tournament game before this season, is just one victory away from the program's first NCAA tournament berth.

The Governors are coached by former Southeast assistant Kelley Guth, who was on Heather Nelson's staff in 2000 and 2001 before starting Austin Peay's program in 2002.

Austin Peay, which lost to Southeast 1-0 in the regular season, led 1-0 at halftime of Friday's rematch.

Southeast sophomore Courtney Luehmann, a Notre Dame Regional High School graduate, tied the contest with 22 minutes, 48 seconds left in the second half on a direct free kick.

Luehmann, who earlier in the week was named first-team all-OVC, notched her fifth goal of the season as she finished second on the squad.

It appeared as if the teams might be headed to overtime, but Austin Peay was awarded a penalty kick with 1:37 left in regulation.

Natalie Ariza got behind Southeast's defense and was dribbling toward the net when she was tackled from behind. She converted the penalty kick for her second goal of the game.

Austin Peay added an empty-net goal with 11 seconds remaining.

The Redhawks outshot the Govs 15-12. Both sides put six shots on goal.

Austin Peay will play top-seeded and host Morehead State in today's title game, with the winner earning the league's automatic NCAA tournament berth.

Morehead State (12-6-1), the OVC regular-season champion, beat fourth-seeded Eastern Illinois (8-9-5) in Friday's other semifinal 2-1.

Volleyball loses two

The Southeast volleyball squad closed out its home schedule with Saturday's 25-22, 25-21, 25-18 loss to Austin Peay.

That came after Friday's home loss to Tennessee State as the Tigers rallied for a 21-25, 26-28, 25-20, 25-17, 15-9 victory

Southeast (6-21, 3-13) mathematically was eliminated from contention for a berth in the six-team OVC tournament. The Redhawks are tied for last in the 10-team league.

The Redhawks now have missed the OVC tournament two straight years after previously having qualified every season since joining the conference in 1991.

Freshman Julie Shives had 24 assists against Austin Peay, senior Kelly Benacka recorded 24 digs and senior Claire Keaton added 12 digs.

Freshman Andrea Baylin led against Tennessee State with 17 kills and 11 digs.

Southeast had two more double-doubles, by Keaton (10 kills, 14 digs) and Shives (38 assists, 11 digs). Benacka had 32 digs.

Keaton and Benacka now both are in the 1,000-dig club for their Southeast careers.

The Redhawks end the season with two road matches, Friday at Jacksonville State and Saturday at Tennessee Tech.

-- From staff reports