The Southeast Missouri State volleyball team will carry a little bit of momentum into the Ohio Valley Conference tournament after finishing its regular season strong.

In the Redhawks last six OVC games of the season the team went 4-2, while finishing its season on a three game-winning streak, including wins over UT Martin, Austin Peay and Tennessee Tech.

"I'm really excited about the way we are playing right now with getting a couple three-set wins in a row," Southeast coach Julie Yankus said after the Austin Peay game.

The Redhawks finished the regular season with an overall record of 17-15 and 9-7 in the OVC.

The team fell to a few opponents OVC early in the season, dropping games to Austin Peay, SIUE and UT Martin.

The Redhawks got some revenge with a win against all three of those teams later in the season.

"UT Martin beat us earlier in the year at their place and we thought we would run away with that one, but we already got our revenge on them," senior middle blocker Emily Coon said.

Senior outside hitter Colleen Yaber joined the Southeast 1,000 kill club against UT Martin in the Redhawks last home game of the season on Nov. 12.

"It was a pretty cool accomplishment for me but also for my team as well," Yaber said. "Because it's not just me --it's my setter, my defense, it's all of us together."

Senior setter Julie Shives got her 4,500 career assist in that same game.

"Now we are just playing with fire, and I think it will really set us off," Shives said.

The top seed in the tournament is Morehead State. Morehead went 15-1 in the OVC this season and finished with an overall record of 24-7. Southeast and Morehead played each other on Oct. 5, and it took Morehead five sets to beat Southeast.

"I would like to kill Morehead State in the tournament or whoever is in the championship, but if it is Morehead I would love to beat them," Yaber said.

The team is still focused on the ultimate prize, which would be an automatic bid into the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament.

"We like to take it one game at a time and never overlook anyone because in our conference anyone can beat anyone at any time," Coon said.

The road to the championship will not be an easy one. Eastern Illinois is another tough opponent that has its momentum going into the tournament with it's nine-game winning streak.

Also, Belmont will be a force in the tournament with a record of 12-4 in the OVC. Austin Peay and Eastern Kentucky both went 9-7 in the OVC.

Southeast has the fourth seed in the tournament and will face the fifth seed, Austin Peay, in the third match of the first round. The teams split its two regular season matches. The Redhawks did win four of the seven sets the two teams played.

The winner of that match will play against the winner of the Morehead State and No. 8 Tennessee State game, in the semifinals.

In match one, Eastern Illinois has the No. 3 seed and will take on Eastern Kentucky, the No. 6 seed. Match two consists of No. 2 Belmont facing the No. 7 seed SIUE.

The OVC tournament will start on Thursday at 10 a.m. eastern time at Morehead State University.