Spikers aim to set attendance mark

The Southeast Missouri State volleyball team begins Ohio Valley Conference play this weekend with two home matches, at 6:30 p.m. Friday against Eastern Illinois and at 1:30 p.m. Saturday against SIU Edwardsville.

Friday's contest will feature Southeast attempting to break its home attendance record of 1,168 set on Nov. 9, 1993 against Murray State.

A total of 900 T-shirts will be given out to students who stay for the match and Southeast Recreation Services is donating bleachers to be put on the floor of Houck Field House for students.

The last time bleachers were placed on the floor of Houck was when the record was set nearly 20 years ago.

Following Saturday's match, Southeast will host a free youth clinic that will run until approximately 4:30 p.m. The clinic is open to youngsters ages 10 and up.

RSVPs for the clinic should be made by emailing semovolleyball@gmail.com.

A completed participation waiver form that can be found at gosoutheast.com should be brought to the clinic.

Saturday will also feature Southeast volleyball's camper reunion, with all summer campers receiving free admission.

Southeast, the defending OVC West Division champion and preseason West Division favorite, is 7-7.

Eastern Illinois is 6-7 and SIUE is 4-9.

Baseball

Southeast, which began fall practice Monday, will hold its first intrasquad scrimmage at 7 p.m. Friday as part of Family Weekend at the university.

The scrimmage at Capaha Field is open to the public.

Southeast's annual Red & Black intrasquad series that wraps up fall practice is slated to begin Oct. 24. It is also open to the public.

The Redhawks' 2014 roster currently features 19 returning players and 20 newcomers.

Southeast has one new face on the coaching staff in volunteer assistant Jacob Wente, who pitched for the Redhawks in 2010 and 2011.

Soccer

Southeast opens OVC play this weekend with a pair of road matches.

The Redhawks (1-4-1) visit Murray State (3-3-1) at 3 p.m. Friday and Austin Peay (5-1-1) at 2 p.m. Sunday.

Southeast has not played since Sept. 15, when the Redhawks notched their first win of the season by rallying past host Drake 2-1.

Softball

Southeast ranked 86th among the 2012-13 National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-Academic teams with a 3.16 grade point average. It marks the 14th straight year that Southeast has earned NFCA All-Academic recognition.

Southeast players Elysia Mesa, Jamie Woodworth, Lindsey Patterson, Summer Burger and Taylor Cowan garnered NFCA All-America Scholar-Athlete status for achieving a 3.50 GPA or higher during the 2012-13 academic year. Burger is a Notre Dame Regional High School graduate.

Also, Southeast opened its fall schedule recently with two wins in Carbondale, Ill., beating Southern Illinois 7-3 and John A. Logan Community College 5-2.

Savannah Carpenter homered in the first inning against SIU. She led the Redhawks with two hits.

Aubrey Denno picked up the complete-game victory in the circle. She allowed five hits, struck out six and walked six.

No details were available from the win over John A. Logan.

-- From staff reports