With the season opening tournaments now complete, the Ohio Valley Conference volleyball schedule will begin this week with all 11 teams in action.

The first conference game will start Wednesday evening as the two new OVC members Samford and Jacksonville State square off in Alabama. The rest of the teams, including preseason favorites Murray State and Southeast Missouri, will take the floor Friday with five games scheduled.

The Racers and Otahkians each received 88 points and a share of the top spot in preseason voting. Murray State received four first-place votes to SEMO’s three.

The Racers return four starters from a team that finished fourth in

the OVC last year. Murray State closed out its season by winning 11 of 15 contests to reach the .500 mark at 12-12. The Racers will rely on their trio of sophomores Nikki Wong, Paige Sun and Abbi Gui this season. Wong was the 2002 OVC freshman of the year and also had a spot of the 2nd team All-OVC setter team.

The Otahkians finished 13-3 last year and tied for second place in the conference. Three starters return including first team All-OVC setter Emily Scannell. The Belleville native led the OVC with 12.84 assists per game, and many of those passes went to outside hitter Sarah Frost who was ninth in the conference with 3.72 kills per game.

Picked third in the conference is Morehead State. The Eagles will return four starters but the team will be led by new head coach Jamie Gordon, who is looking forward to the OVC schedule.

“We’re pretty anxious to get started,” Gordon said. “We’ve had some strong weekends and some poor weekends so we’re looking to get going.”

Gordon said second team All-OVC outside hitter Cherelle Lampkins and senior middle hitter Jennifer Fox are two players to keep an eye on and junior outside hitter Jennifer Kennedy has improved her game.

“Jennifer Fox has really stepped up for us,” Gordon said. “She has played hard this year.”

Although the Eagles are picked third in the conference, Gordon likes the way his team matches up with the rest of the OVC.

“Whether we’re picked first or 11th I’ll take our team,” Gordon said. “I try not to look at the rankings until the end of the year.”

Jacksonville State and defending OVC champion Tennessee-Martin each received one first-place vote and 71 and 69 points respectively to rank fourth and fifth.

Jacksonville State went 7-4 in the Atlantic Sun Conference and 14-14 overall. The Jaguars are coached by the 2002 Atlantic Sun Conference coach of the year Rick Nold and he will pick from a roster that brings back four starters.

Staring for the Jaguars is senior outside hitter Christina Cary who averaged nearly three kills and a block per game, and senior setter Meredith Duke provided 11 assists a game. Defensively sophomore Kisha West adds three digs a game for the Jaguars.

Tennessee-Martin will try to replace five starters and to date are off to a rough start with a 1-12 record.

Last year’s OVC Chris Rushing will rely on his outside hitters Jamie Fitzwater and Heather Kea for offense. Fitzwater is coming off a season in which she hit .254 and Kea averaged 2.66 kills and three digs per game last year.

Austin Peay checked in at sixth with 55 points. The Governors will need a big season from first team All-OVC member Sarah Schramka to remain in contention for the conference title.

Coming in at seventh with 42 points is Eastern Kentucky. Head coach Lori Duncan said the team is better than its ranking, but understands the position because the team plays four freshmen regularly.

“The ranking is absolutely unjustified in my mind and in the minds of the kids,” Duncan said. “But we know our ranking was hurt because we graduated four seniors and play four freshen.”

With many freshmen on the roster, Duncan is looking for sophomore Liz Guard to increase her play and her leadership.

“The freshmen really add something to our offense and have pushed Liz to pick up her play in practice so far,” Duncan said.

Samford was predicted to finish eighth in its first year in the OVC after a 5-6 Atlantic Sun Conference record last year. The Bulldogs did not lose a single starter to graduation.

Eastern totaled 39 points which put it at ninth in the OVC rankings. The Panthers return four starters including All-OVC first team member Erica Gerth. The junior has lived up to her accolades by being named to three All-Tournament teams in the first month of the season. In 47 games this year, Gerth is averaging 3.85 kills a game and a hitting percentage of .228.

Panthers head coach Brenda Winkeler says the low ranking will be used to motivate her team.

“The rankings usually are where you ended last year,” Winkeler said. “We’ll use it (ranking) as an incentive. It can inspire our team.”

Tennessee Tech (21 points) and Tennessee State (10 points) were picked 10th and 11th respectively.

The OVC regular season will conclude in the middle of November for all teams. The first round of the OVC tournament will begin on Nov. 21 at the No. 1 seed’s home site.