Sept. 12, 2003

Box Score

After traveling more than 2,300 miles, the Southeast Missouri State volleyball team finally picked up its first win of the season. The Otahks beat the tournament host Drake 3-1 (30-26, 30-32, 30-23, 30-28) in the Image Sport Bulldog Invitational in Des Moines, Iowa, on Friday night.

Southeast, now 1-7, was picked to finish first in the Ohio Valley Conference this season, but a tough preseason schedule kept the squad winless in its first two tournaments.

Against Drake (7-2), Southeast got into the win column with a strong hitting attack. As a team, Southeast had 72 kills for a .274 hitting percentage. Senior Sarah Frost led the way with 20 kills, and outside hitters Suzanne Gundlach and Jessica Koeper each had 18.

Senior setter Emily Scannell had 52 assists to set the strong offensive attack.

Defensively, Gundlach and Jill Miller led the way with 11 digs apiece, while Kristen Clark had 10. Gundlach has had four games with double-doubles this season.

With both offense and defense seemingly on track, Southeast will take on more difficult competition Saturday against DePaul at 1 p.m. and Louisiana Tech at 7 p.m.