CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Southeast Missouri (1-1) split their opening day of contests, defeating New Orleans (0-2) before falling to Illinois-Chicago (2-0).

Southeast Missouri 3, New Orleans 1 (21-25, 25-23, 25-23, 25-11)
After dropping the first set, 25-21, SEMO's offense sprung to life in the second. Down, 8-7, the Redhawks pieced together a seven-point rally behind Jessica McElderry and Krissa Gearring. SEMO later held off a late rally by UNO to grab a 25-23 win. Gearring finished the frame with eight kills and a .538 hitting percentage. Rachel Poole earned 14 assists in the set and 25 for the match in her Redhawks debut.

Both Gearring and Poole duplicated their numbers in the third game to give SEMO the match advantage. Several errors by the Privateers allowed the Redhawks to get a slight lead late in the frame and fight off another UNO rally pull off a 25-23 victory.

Firing on all cylinders, SEMO took full control in the fourth set behind another seven-point surge. With a healthy 20-11 lead, Gearring and Poole connected two more times to nail down the 3-1 win in decisive fashion, 25-11.

The fourth frame also saw a historic moment in the career of senior Jade Mortimer, as she earned her 1,000th career dig as a Redhawk. Mortimer ended up with 19 digs and five assists.

Meanwhile, Gearring and Pool earned their first double-doubles of the season. Gearring finished the contest with a career-high 26 kills and 10 digs, while Pool tallied 50 assists and 16 digs. Madeline Grimm registered double-digit kills (13) and posted a .400 hitting clip, as well.

Preseason All-Ohio Valley Conference pick Nzingha Clarke notched eight kills and two solo blocks in the contest as the Redhawks had a a strong performance hitting .324 as a team.

Illinois-Chicago 3, Southeast Missouri 1 (25-23, 25-19, 22-25, 25-17)
Behind a collectively strong attack from Clarke, Gearring, Grimm and Marie Less, the Redhawks took an early advantage. The Flames slowly chipped away at Southeast's lead until eventually forcing a tie at 20. After trading points, UIC earned the advantage and would overtake Southeast to claim a 25-23 set win.

After Southeast fell again the second 25-19, a back-and-forth third set began as the teams traded points until drawing a tie at 16. The Flames edged ahead shortly after, stringing together three points in a row. Down 22-20, head coach Julie Yankus called a time out hoping to change the pace of the competition. The Redhawks exited the break and produced a five-point run to avoid the sweep, winning the game 25-22 and forcing a fourth frame.

Despite Southeast's surge of engery, UIC reclaimed momentum in the following set to finished off the Redhawks and earn a 3-1 victory.

Gearring earned her second double-double of the day, finishing with 18 kills and 10 digs. Mortimer tacked on 21 digs while Poole tallied 31 assists and four kills (.571 hitting clip).

The Redhawks return to action tomorrow, Aug. 27, against Louisiana Tech at 2 p.m. in the final match of the Redhawks Invitational.