Oct. 19, 2003

Cape Girardeau, Mo. - After taking three out of five matches the past two weekends, the Southeast Missouri State volleyball squad will come home to some fierce competition.

Tuesday night at 7 p.m. the Otahks (6-16, 5-4 OVC) will host OVC leader Murray State. The Racers (14-4, 8-0 OVC) are unbeaten thus far in conference play.

Southeast took two of three matches this past weekend - beating Tennessee State and Samford, and losing to Jacksonville State. For the three matches, Southeast had six different players post 10 or more digs in a match. Senior outside hitters Suzanne Gundlach and Sarah Frost each had outstanding numbers. Gundlach posted a double-double in each of the matches, giving her 11 on the season. Over the three-match stretch, Gundlach had 41 kills and 40 digs. Frost had a strong hitting percentage of .235 as she put down 37 kills over the course of the three matches. Also posting double digit performances were four freshmen - Jessica Koeper, Danielle Pegram, Jamie Baumstark, and Jessica Wilfong. Koeper posted 11 kills against Tennessee State on Thursday night. Pegram had 12 kills against Jacksonville State, as well as a team-high six blocks. Baumstark had double-double against Samford on Saturday, as she had 11 kills and 10 digs. She also scored five more aces, giving her 31 on the season, and an OVC leading .67 aces per game average. Jessica Wilfong, who had 19 kills over the weekend, increased her team-leading hitting percentage by scoring 10 kills against Samford.

Also with a big weekend was senior setter Emily Scannell, who posted two double-doubles and had 125 assists for the weekend.

Scouting Murray State... The Racers come into Tuesday's match having won 14 consecutive matches. At 8-0 in the OVC they stand atop the standings, and their .280 hitting percentage is by far tops in the league. The Racers have only lost three games in their eight conference matches.

Murray is led by sophomore hitter Paige Sun and her 4.69 kills per game average. Also posting big numbers is sophomore Abbi Gui, who has a .365 hitting percentage to go with her 3.83 kills per game. Nikki Wong set the pair, as she averages 12.22 assists per game.

Defensively, Sun also leads the way. She averages more than four digs per game. Kimberly Bunnage is second on the squad with 3.17 digs per game.