Game Coverage
Live Stats: MSUEagles.com
Live Video: OVC Digital Network (first round only)
                      ESPN 3 (semifinals | championship)
Twitter Updates: @GoSoutheast | @OVCSports
 
Complete Match Notes

Tournament Bracket
 
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Thursday marks the beginning of the 2013 Ohio Valley Conference Volleyball Tournament. The tournament will be hosted by Morehead State. Southeast will face off against Austin Peay in the first round of the tournament at 3:30 p.m., CT, Thursday. The first round of the tournament can be seen for free on the OVC Digital Netowrk while the semifinal round and championship round will be aired on ESPN 3.
 
Let's Review
Southeast Missouri defeated UT Martin and Tennessee Tech to conclude the regular-season last week. Senior Colleen Yarber recorded 16 kills versus UT Martin to become a member of Southeast Missouri's 1,000-kill club. She finished the week with 34 kills and 17 digs while hitting .248. Senior libero Berkley Idel tallied 43 digs over the two matches, while eclipsing the 1,500 career dig mark. She put up 20-plus digs in both matches to average 6.14 digs per set. Senior Julie Shives dished out 77 assists to help the team hit .237 last week. She also surpassed the 4,500 career assist mark in the match with UT Martin.
 
OVC Offensive Player of the Week
Just one week after Emily Coon was named the OVC Offensive Player of the Week, fellow senior Colleen Yarber garnered the award. Yarber recorded her 1,000th career kill in the win over UT Martin to finish the week with a team-leading 34 kills (4.86 kills/set) with a .258 hitting clip. She also tallied 17 digs on the week. Against UTM, she had 16 kills with a .303 hitting percentage and followed that up with 18 kills versus Tennessee Tech.
 
Tournament History
Since 1991, Southeast Missouri has participated in the OVC Tournament all but two seasons (2009, 2010). Southeast has five tournament titles to their name, second most in the OVC; Eastern Kentucky has nine. Southeast holds the best record in tournament play, going 27-15. The Redhawks are 3-4 all-time when the tournament has been held in Morehead, Ky.; never advancing past the semifinals.
 
Southeast's tournament record against opponents in this season's tournament are:
Morehead: 3-3
Eastern Illinois: 3-1
Belmont: 0-1
Austin Peay: 4-3
Eastern Kentucky: 2-1
SIUE: 0-0
Tennessee State: 3-0
 
No. 4 Southeast Missouri will meet No. 5 Austin Peay in the first round of the tournament, Thursday. The Redhawks and Lady Govs split in their regular season match-ups, 1-1. Southeast's 4-3 set wins gave the Redhawks the tie-breaker and the higher seed. Southeast will meet the winner of No. 1 Morehead State and No. 8 Tennessee State in the semifinals.
 
Last Year at This Time
Going into the 2012 OVC Tournament, Southeast held the second seed behind No. 1 Morehead State. Southeast defeated Jacksonville State in four sets in the first round but fell to Belmont in five sets in the semifinals. Belmont would go on to win the tournament in their first year in the league.
 
Playing a Wall
The Redhawks have consistently led the OVC in blocking this season. Southeast has tallied 306 blocks (130 solo, 352 assisted), 2.39 blocks/set. Taylor Masterson (1.07 blocks/set) ranks first in the OVC in blocking with Emily Coon (0.92 blocks/set) ranks 6th in blocking in the OVC.
 
1,000 Kill Club
Senior middle blocker Emily Coon recorded her 1,000th kill of her career in Oct. 16's match against Saint Louis. Fellow senior Colleen Yarber joined Coon in the 1,000 kill club against UT Martin on Nov. 12. Both ladies each sit outside the top-ten in career kills all time.
 
Records Watch
Berkley Idel has broken the top ten list of career digs and now ranks fifth with 1,519 digs while Colleen Yarber has broken the top-ten in career attack attempts with 3,596 and now ranks sixth all-time. Meanwhile, Emily Coon is climbing the Assisted Blocks and Total Blocks lists. Julie Shives ranks fifth on the career assists list with 4,564.