Southeast Missouri (6-14, 1-5)
at Tennessee State (6-13, 2-4)
Match Information
Date: Friday, Oct. 13, 2017
First Serve: 6 p.m.
Location: Nashville, Tenn.
Venue: Kean Hall
Series: SEMO leads 41-7
 
Media Information
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
 
at Belmont (9-9, 4-2)
Match Information
Date: Saturday, Oct. 14, 2017
First Serve: 2 p.m.
Location: Nashville, Tenn.
Venue: Curb Event Center
Series: Belmont leads 5-3
 
Media Information
Live Stats: StatBroadcast 
Video: OVC Digital Network
 
Follow the Redhawks on Twitter for in-match updates @SEMOvb.
 
Complete Match Notes: Southeast Missouri
 
Music City Weekend
Southeast Missouri women's volleyball (6-14, 1-5) continues their four-game road swing as they head to Nashville, Tennessee for matches against Tennessee State and Belmont. The Redhawks face TSU Friday night at 6 p.m. and then take on Belmont Saturday at 2 p.m. 
 
Follow the Redhawks
• Live stats will be available for both matches on Friday and Saturday. Both live stat links can be found on the volleyball schedule on GoSoutheast.com.
• Saturday's match will be streamed live and for free on the OVC Digital Network.
• @SEMOvb, the official Twitter page of the Redhawks volleyball team, will feature live in-game updates all season long.
 
Series History
Tennessee State
Southeast leads the all-time series with Tennessee State, 41-7, and won the most recent meeting last season on Oct. 15, 2016 in four sets (25-19, 25-22, 28-30, 25-16) at Houck Field House. Krissa Gearring led the Redhawks offense with 26 kills and 14 digs on a .333 hitting clip. Nzingha Clarke added 12 and Marie Less had 10. Madeline Grimm recorded four service aces with eight kills. SEMO has won the last five matchups including Oct. 23, 2015 at TSU in five sets (25-13, 20-25, 22-25, 27-25, 17-15).
 
Belmont
Belmont leads the all-time series with the Redhawks, 5-3. SEMO won the series opener on Sept. 9, 2005, 3-1, in Peoria, Illinois and won the most recent matchup on Oct. 14, 2016 at home to end four-straight wins by the Bruins. Krissa Gearring posted a match-high 17 kills and 15 digs. Southeast has never won at Curb Event Center in Nashville, Tennessee.
 
Scouting the Tigers (6-13, 2-4)
Tennessee State enters the matchup 2-4 in the OVC after splitting their matches this past week. TSU lost at Jacksonville State, 2-3, on Friday before they bested Tennessee Tech in straight sets on Saturday.
 
Senior middle blocker Katora Roberts recorded 28 kills over the two matches with a career-best 19-kill performance against JSU. Senior libero Cherlie Adorno-DeJesus led the Tigers with 25 digs versus the Gamecocks and 15 against the Golden Eagles. Senior setter Samantha Beltran had a career-high 61 assists versus JSU and added 34 against TTU. Freshman middle block/rightside hitter Maya Evans finished the weekend with 24 kills, a .383 hitting percentage and six blocks to earn OVC Newcomer of the Week.
 
Tennessee State was picked to finish eighth in the preseason 2017 OVC poll. Sophomore outside hitter/middle blocker/rightside hitter Julia Pierson was named to the 2017 Preseason All-OVC Team.
 
Scouting the Bruins (9-9, 4-2)
Belmont faced Lipscomb on Tuesday and takes on UT Martin Friday before Saturday's contest with SEMO.
 
The Bruins fell to Lipscomb, 1-3, in their annual crosstown rivalry match. Senior outside hitter Arianna Person led the team with 15 kills and 13 digs. Junior middle blocker Alexa Nichols added 10 kills while senior defensive specialist/libero Ellie Ivancich recorded a team-high 15 digs. 
 
This past weekend the Bruins beat Tennessee Tech in four before losing at Jacksonville State in five sets. Person recorded a match-high 17 kills and nine digs at Tennessee Tech and then led the team against JSU with 18 kills and 20 digs. Ivanich notched 24 digs versus Tech and added 12 in the match with the Gamecocks. Freshman setter Akia Warrior led the team with 62 assists and totaled a season-high 44 assists while hitting .750 in the win over TTU.
 
Belmont was chosen first in the preseason 2017 OVC poll. 2016 All-OVC Team honorees, Person, senior setter Emma Price and senior rightside hitter/middle blocker Brie Lewis were named to the 2017 Preseason All-OVC Team.
 
Let's Recap
Southeast dropped back-to-back matches to Eastern Illinois and SIUE this past weekend in Illinois. The Redhawks have now lost their past four contests. Nzingha Clarke led the SEMO offense with 20 kills on a .474 hitting clip with 10 blocks. Krissa Gearring recorded 14 kills and 14 digs on Saturday at SIUE. She hit 11 at EIU and then added nine more at SIUE. Ally Dion recorded 33 digs (16 at EIU and 17 at SIUE) and added three services aces over the weekend.
 
Blockers Up
The Redhawks lead the conference with 2.35 blocks per set and are second in the OVC with 181.0 total blocks. Nzingha Clarke tops the league with 93 total blocks (1.22 blocks/set for second) and ranks 20^th in the NCAA. Krista Berns is fifth in the OVC with 70 total blocks (0.95 blocks/set for sixth).
 
In OVC competition, Southeast ranks second with 60 total blocks (2.86 blocks/set). Clarke has 33.0 total blocks for second in the conference and Berns is fourth with 1.28 blocks per set.
 
Double-Doubles
Southeast recorded four double-doubles over the weekend. Allie Henkelman notched back-to-back double-doubles with 21 assists and 12 digs on Friday at EIU and then 12 digs and 11 assists at SIUE. Henkelman now has six double-doubles this season. Keegan Fornoff tallied her second of the campaign on Saturday with 18 assists and 10 digs at SIUE. Krissa Gearring claimed her team-high seventh double-double of 2017 at SIUE with 14 kills and 14 digs. SEMO has totaled 19 double-doubles this season.
 
Dion the Defender
Libero Ally Dion has recorded seven straight matches with 13 or more digs. She also has 10 double-digits dig performances including every OVC match this season. Dion ranks eighth in the OVC with 4.19 digs per set (88 digs) in conference play.        
 
Dion notched three service aces over this past weekend to improve her season total to 26. She ranks tied for first in the OVC with 0.43 service aces per set.
 
Milestone for Fornoff the Facilitator
Setter Keegan Fornoff recorded 25 assists this past weekend to eclipse 900 assists in her Redhawks career. Fornoff now has 923 assists and currently ranks 10^th in program history.
 
Non-Conference Recap
SEMO concluded their non-conference schedule with a 5-9 record (4-0 home, 0-4 away, 1-5 neutral). Southeast picked up its first win of the season over Alcorn State at the New Orleans Invitational and returned to Cape Girardeau, Missouri where the team rallied off four-straight wins and claimed the Redhawks Invitational Championship. The Redhawks then lost seven-straight matches at both the Drake Invitational and Chicago State Invitational with a stop at SIU sandwiched in between.
 
Roster Breakdown
The Redhawks squad includes 15 student-athletes with the bulk of the team made up of upperclassmen (five seniors and five juniors). Nine members from the 2016 team return this season with four returnees being regular starters last season. The 2017 roster features five newcomers, two of which are true freshman and the other three players transferring from other institutions.
 
OVC Preseason
SEMO was chosen to finish ninth in the 2017 Ohio Valley Conference preseason poll. The Redhawks received 70 points in the survey voted on by OVC Coaches and Sports Information Directors. Belmont was picked as the 2017 preseason favorite. The Bruins garnered 10 of the 24 first place votes for 223 points. Austin Peay (214 points) finished second with six first-place votes. SIUE (199 points) took two first-place votes for third and 2016 OVC Champion, Murray State, (188 points) received six first-place votes to place fourth. Senior outside hitter Krissa Gearring and senior middle blocker Nzingha Clarke were both named to the 2017 Preseason All-OVC Team.