Southeast volleyball picked to finish 7th in OVC

~ Defending champion Morehead State was tabbed as the preseason favorite

The Southeast Missouri State volleyball team was predicted to finish seventh out of 12 teams in the Ohio Valley Conference preseason poll, which was released Wednesday and is voted on by the conference's coaches and sports information directors.

The Redhawks finished second in the OVC West Division last year, but the conference will no longer use the divisions for ranking purposes. The top 8 teams in the final standings will make the conference tournament this season.

Southeast lost five players from last year's team, including All-OVC selection Emily Coon.

Junior middle blocker Taylor Masterson was selected to the preseason All-OVC team. She led the league in blocking last season with 139 blocks, an average of 1.09 per set. She also had 219 kills.

Defending OVC regular-season and tournament champion Morehead State was picked as the preseason favorite with 228 points and 15 first-place votes.

Eastern Illinois collected 210 points and five first-place votes for second. Belmont was picked third with 185 points and two first-place votes.

Austin Peay received one first-place vote and 169 points for fourth. Eastern Kentucky was fifth with 165 points while SIU-Edwardsville was sixth with one first-place vote and 156 points.

Southeast received 147 points. Tennessee State (92), Murray State (88), Jacksonville State (58), UT-Martin (53) and Tennessee Tech (33) round out the poll.

Southeast opens its season on Aug. 29 at the Saint Louis tournament.