Evansville, Ind. – Southeast Missouri (1-6) fell to Evansville (1-5) in five sets (20-25, 31-29, 25-21, 10-25, 15-9) Monday evening at the Carson Center.
 
Tied at nine, the Redhawks sparked a four-point rally and never looked back. Southeast remained in front the rest of the opening frame behind a strong early showing from Krissa Gearring who tallied five kills in the game.
 
With Southeast on the verge of taking a two game lead, the Purple Aces rallied late to tie the game. Battling back and forth, Evansville finally edged SEMO 31-29. UE rode their late momentum to take the third set (25-21) and a 2-1 match advantage.
 
With their back against the wall, the Redhawks launched an all-out attack led by Madeline Grimm to remain alive in the match. Grimm had nine kills during the fourth frame to propel Southeast to a 25-10 win and force a fifth and final game.
 
Evansville halted Southeast's comeback, however, winning the match with a 15-9 fifth set victory.
 
Gearring led the Redhawks offensively with 23 kills while adding on 10 digs. Grimm set a new personal best in kills with 22 while Nzingha Clarke also tallied 17.

Katarina Rotta accumulated 59 assists while Jade Mortimer led defensively with 16 digs.

The Redhawks return to action this weekend Sept. 9-10 in Valparaiso, Indiana at the Popcorn Classic. Southeast will take on tournament host Valparaiso on Friday before battling Duquesne and Central Michigan on Saturday.