Charleston, Ill. - The Southeast Missouri Volleyball team opened up Ohio Valley Conference play with a victory, Friday evening in Charleston, Ill. over Eastern Illinois. The Redhawks (3-9, 1-0 OVC) swept the Panthers (2-9, 0-1 OVC) 3-0 by scores of 25-22, 25-22 and 25-22.

The Redhawks have now won four straight Ohio Valley Conference openers. Southeast improves their OVC Opener record to 13-7 all-time.

“It was a great win for us tonight, we played confident and this will help us gain some confidence and make some noise in the OVC this season. We are excited to go out and play tomorrow at SIUE,” said head coach Julie Folliard.

The first frame saw each team take the lead and give back the lead a few points later. The Redhawks did not earn a kill until their fifth point of the game.

The Panthers jumped out to a 9-6 lead as EIU used a three-point run that forced a timeout by Southeast. The Redhawks regrouped and used a four-point run of their down to cut the EIU advantage to 14-13.

Southeast used their momentum to take their first lead of the set at 20-19. The Redhawks continued to roll as Southeast took the first frame 25-22. Junior Brittney Kalinoski got out to a fast start in the first set with four kills.

The Redhawks took the second set 25-22. The second frame was a back and fourth affair with the Redhawks holding the lead a majority of the frame.

Southeast held a 24-19 advantage late in the frame, but the Panthers battled back to cut the lead to 24-22, but the Redhawks took the frame on a service error by the Panthers.

The Redhawks hit .229 in the frame and held EIU to a hitting percentage of .109.

The third set saw the same score as the first two as the Redhawks took the third set 25-22 and the match 3-0.

A tightly contested third frame was broke open by a three point run by the Redhawks. EIU would use a four-point run of their own later in the frame, but the Redhawks finished the set strong and took the final two points on their way to the victory.

Southeast held the Panthers to a hitting percentage of .053 in the final frame and forced EIU to make nine errors in the set.

Junior Karlee Lursen of Apple Valley, Minn. led the Redhawks with a season-high 15 kills on the night. Kalinoski was the only other Redhawk in double figures with 10 kills.

“Karlee came alive tonight and forced their blockers to struggle and make mistakes,” said Folliard.

Senior Paige Dossey from Avon, Ind. paced the Southeast defense with a career- high 19 digs. Sophomore Emily coon added a team high-four blocks for the Redhawks

“Paige had an excellent game, they could not hit a ball in here area and she really made our defense go tonight,” Folliard said.

The Redhawks will be in action tomorrow afternoon at 2 PM as Southeast will close our their season opening road swing at SIU Edwardsville.