The Southeast Missouri State University volleyball team won the Ohio Valley Conference west division outright last season and finished second overall in the conference behind Morehead State.

The reign of superiority set by the team is expected to roll into this season. It is predicted that the team again will be No. 1 in the west division of the conference, but the players have set a higher goal for themselves. They plan to take first overall.

Austin Peay was picked to finish second in the west division. Austin Peay has been a tough recurring rival for Southeast in the past according to Southeast coach Julie Yankus.

Last season Southeast defeated Austin Peay 25-16, 25-20, 26-28, 25-19 before Austin Peay defeated Southeast in their last meeting of the season 19-25, 20-25, 25-23, 27-25, 15-7. Yankus also believes Belmont and Morehead State will be tough competition in the east division of the OVC.

"We have some very tough competition in the conference," Yankus said. "We're playing some really tough tier teams, but it's just going to get us better for conference."

Some of the teams the Redhawks will face in the start of the season include Mississippi State and the University of Arkansas-Little Rock in the Mississippi State tournament, which begins on Friday. After that the team will play in tournaments hosted by Kansas State and Ohio State over the next two weekends.

The team lost one of its starters from last season, but Yankus doesn't foresee this causing damage to the team. Two of the returning players this year senior middle blocker Emily Coon and senior outside hitter Colleen Yarber were named all-conference players last year.

Senior setter Julie Shives was selected for the preseason all-OVC team. Yankus said she is happy to have them back and has set high expectations for the players on the court this season.

Five new players have joined the team. Yankus said two players to look for will be Katarina Rotta, a freshman setter, and Jade Mortimer, a freshman libero. Yankus said both come from very good club teams, and she hopes that they will bring their level of experience to the college level.

Coon also has set high expectations for this season. Her goal is to take first overall in the OVC this year. She said last season the team came out strong and competitive, but the players have prepared all summer for this upcoming season. According to Coon, this season the players are more confident in their skill level and are playing together as a team better than last year.

"This year we have more experience all around on the court, and we have a lot of girls returning that are ready to come out and show who we are," Coon said. "All around we've been working out hard with the coaches and on the court all summer."

Berkley Idel, a senior libero, said that last year was a great year for her, but she is ready to set the bar higher.

"[Last season] we really worked together learning the moves and habits of the other teammates," Idel said. "I think this year we can take that, put it all together and take our experience to the next level and win the entire conference."

The Redhawks will open play against Mississippi State at 1 p.m. Friday in Starkville, Miss. They will face University of Arkansas-Little Rock at 4 p.m. Friday before facing Mississippi State again at 7 p.m. Saturday.