Southeast volleyball team opens OVC tourney today

The Southeast Missouri State volleyball team has had a tough season filled with growing pains and injuries.

The Redhawks, who have four seniors and two juniors on their roster, finished with a record of 11-19 and qualified for the Ohio Valley Conference tournament as the No. 8 seed.

But as Southeast prepares to begin play in the OVC tournament today at Murray State University, coach Julie Yankus said her team is peaking at the right time.

"I think it's going to be a battle from the one through eight seeds," Yankus said. "It's going to be a very competitive tournament, which just kind of shows the equality of this conference. The team with the worst record in our conference just beat the one-seed last weekend. Really, I think anything can happen and we know that."

Southeast will face top-seeded Murray State (14-2 in OVC, 23-5) at 3 p.m. The Racers only two conference losses came against seventh-seeded Austin Peay (8-8 in OVC, 14-15) and Morehead State, which did not qualify for the tournament, earlier this season.

Belmont (13-3 in OVC, 17-13) is the second seed, followed by Eastern Kentucky (11-5 in OVC, 21-13), Jacksonville State (9-7 in OVC, 18-15), Tennessee Tech (9-7 in OVC, 14-18), and Eastern Illinois (8-8 in OVC, 14-15)

During last year's OVC tournament, the lower seed defeated the higher seed in three of the four early matches.

Yankus said she likes Southeast's odds and how the Redhawks match up with MSU, despite the difference in records.

"The records might be daunting for some people and you might think they're the clear winner, but realistically we're matched up pretty well with them," Yankus said. "They struggle as far as defending the middle and the right side goes, and that's where our strengths are. As long as we can kind of put everything together, I think it's going to be a battle."

Southeast will look to junior Taylor Masterson to keep the middle and right side strong.

"She is just unstoppable in the middle when we can get her the ball, and she has proven that time and time again," Yankus said. "They will double and triple block her and she will still get a kill. She does a great job blocking-wise as well, really forcing teams out of their offense. She's also stepped up into a leadership role and I've talked to her about really making sure that leadership piece of the puzzle kind of gets fit in there as well. It's not just her leading by her action, but with what she says on the court as well."

Masterson leads the Redhawks in blocks with 113 this season. She also has 280 kills, the second most on the team.

Masterson was named to the all-OVC team while freshman Nzingha Clarke was named to the all-newcomer team Wednesday night.

Senior outside hitter Andrea Baylin leads Southeast with 308 kills. Yankus said Baylin's ball control has been the most important part of her game and the Redhawks will need it to stay that way against the Racers.

"Her ball control has remained a constant force on the court for us," Yankus said about Baylin. "It's not a stat that you get to see, it's not part of the actual statistics, but passing is everything in this game and it really should be. She's been that steady passer for us all year. When she's on and she can get the ball to our setter, that's when we've won matches and been very unstoppable."

This weekend will mark the end of an era for Baylin and fellow seniors Alex Rohlfing, Kelsey Keeve and Meredith Stranges. The four seniors were freshman when Yankus took over as coach of the volleyball team in 2011.

"They were my first class. They've never had another coach in college, and it's fun to look back on that," Yankus said. "They've definitely come throughout the ranks and probably seen my maturity and growth as a coach as well as I've seen theirs and enjoyed watching them. They really took it personally to build the values of this program and what they wanted to instill and keep here. It would be great to send them out on top."