CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Southeast Missouri (4-10, 0-1) dropped its Ohio Valley Conference opener to Murray State (11-1, 1-0), 3-0 (23-25, 23-25, 21-25), Friday in front of a crowd of 782 at Houck Field House.

Preseason All-OVC middle blocker Taylor Masterson made her return from a knee injury, recording two kills and a dig.

The Redhawks battled closely with the reigning OVC champion, refusing to let the Racers pull ahead by more than three points. Eventually, Southeast then took a 20-19 lead on Krissa Gearring's fourth kill of the opening set. The Redhawks were unable to hang on when MSU scored six of the last nine points to win, 25-23.

MSU controlled the early portion of set two before Southeast came back to tie things up at 13-13. Nzingha Clarke's fifth kill of the night tied the game as both teams continued to go back-and-forth. After Clarke's kill pulled Southeast to within a point (23-22), the Racers called timeout and added another two tallies to secure another 25-23 victory.

The Racers completed the sweep with a 25-21 win. MSU opened a nine-point advantage (19-10) in the final set before Southeast managed to pull to within four when back-to-back block assists by Clarke and Madalyn Werths made it a 24-20 game. That was as close as the Redhawks would get.

Marie Less led Southeast with nine kills, while Clarke and Gearring followed close behind with eight apiece, Clarke also boasted a .333 hitting percentage and gathered 3.5 blocks.

Taylor Olden recorded a game-high 17 digs and Kristen Besselsen added 12 to lead the Racers. Olden became  the 11th MSU player to reach 1,000 kills in her career.

Friday marked the Redhawks annual Houck "FILLED" House event.

Southeast returns to action when it hosts Austin Peay Saturday. Start time is 5:30 p.m., CT.