COOKEVILLE, Tenn. ? Another balanced offensive effort spelled doom for yet another opponent as Austin Peay State University's volleyball team cruised to a 3-0 (25-18, 25-16, 25-17) victory against Southeast Missouri  in opening round action of the 2008 Ohio Valley Conference Volleyball Tournament at the Eblen Center.

No. 4 seed Austin Peay (22-10) got off to a rocky start in the opening set, committing three errors in the set's first six points as the teams staggered to a 3-3 tie. But three consecutive Southeast Missouri errors were the start of a 9-2 Austin Peay scoring push that ended with three consecutive kills which broke open the set, 12-5.

No. 5 seed Southeast Missouri (13-14) would get within two points, 16-14, after an Aubrey Dondlinger kill capped a 9-4 SEMO run. The Lady Govs responded with back-to-back kills from junior Kirstin Distler and sophomore Taylor Skinner to get the lead back to four points and they would not be threatened the rest of the way, winning the set 25-18.

Austin Peay roared out to a 9-1 lead in the second set behind the combined effort of Champine and Distler who posted six kills in the opening stretch. The Lady Govs would extend the lead to nine points, 13-4, as sophomore Jessica Mollman sandwiched a pair of kills around another Redhawks error.

Southeast Missouri would respond with a 6-1 run of its own to trim the lead to 14-10, but would not get any closer. Austin Peay pushed the lead back to nine points, 20-11, following a SEMO attack error and the teams traded side outs to finish the set, 25-16.

Following the break, Austin Peay attempted to jump out again and led 4-1, but Southeast Missouri held its ground and got back with a single point, 6-5, after a Mollman attack error. But another 9-3 APSU scoring run, punctuated by kills from four different Lady Govs players, pushed the lead to seven points, 15-8. The Redhawks could not get any closer than five the rest of the way as the Lady Govs posted a 25-17 win.

Four Lady Govs players had 10 or more kills in the three-set romp. Champine and Distler each posted a team-best 11 kills while Mollman and Skinner each added 10 kills. The Lady Govs finished the match with 52 kills and an impressive .339 attack percentage.

Dondlinger led all hitters with 13 kills as Southeast Missouri recorded only 31 kills and was limited to a .152 attack percentage.

Austin Peay advances to face No. 1 seed Tennessee Tech in a 7:30 p.m., Friday semifinal contest.

NOTES: Murray State won the tournament's opening contest, 3-0, against Tennessee Martin... The Racers will meet No. 2 seed Morehead State, 5:30 p.m., Friday.

QUOTES from head coach Jenny Hazelwood:
“We work a lot on hitting different spots and Stephanie and Kirstin really did that today. Southeast Missouri played as well as I've seen this season, but it's hard to defend a team that's finding holes from both antennas. Stephanie and Kirstin have been doing that all season and it's why they are two of the best hitters in the league.”

“We are playing our best volleyball when we spread the ball around and get different hitters good looks,” said Hazelwood. That's going to make us a hard team to defend and it's why we were successful earlier this season. We were aggressive both offensively and defensively tonight and we'll have to play that way throughout the tournament if we're going to reach our goal.”

“We focused on really attacking our opponents the last two weeks and we didn't change that coming into the tournament,” Hazelwood said. “We want our opponents to know they're going to have the fight of their lives if they're going to beat us. I'm proud of the team; they came out with something to prove to the rest of the conference and got things started tonight with a nice performance.”