Southeast Missouri (6-12, 1-3)
at Eastern Illinois (7-9, 1-3)
Match Information
Date: Friday, Oct. 6, 2017
First Serve: 7 p.m.
Location: Charleston, Ill.
Venue: Lantz Arena
Series: SEMO leads 32-20-1
 
Media Information
Live Stats: Stats
Video: OVC Digital Network
 
at SIUE (12-4, 2-2)
Match Information
Date: Saturday, Oct. 7, 2017
First Serve: 2 p.m.
Location: Edwardsville, Ill.
Venue: Vadalabene Center
Series: SIUE leads 8-7
 
Media Information
Live Stats: StatBroadcast  
Video: OVC Digital Network
 
Follow the Redhawks on Twitter for in-match updates @SEMOvb
 
Complete Match Notes: Southeast Missouri
 
Illinois Road Trippin'
Southeast Missouri women's volleyball (6-12, 1-3) travels to Illinois for a weekend set against Eastern Illinois on Friday night at 7 p.m. CT followed by SIUE Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. CT. The pair of away matches starts a four-game road swing for the Redhawks as they head to Nashville, Tennessee for matches against Tennessee State and Belmont next weekend.
 
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.
• Both matches 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
EIU
Southeast Missouri leads the all-time series with the Panthers, 32-20-1. In the most recent matchup, the Redhawks beat EIU on Nov. 5, 2016 in straight sets (25-15, 27-25, 25-15) in Charleston, Illinois to sweep the two-game series last season. Krissa Gearring led the team with 16 kills and Nzingha Clarke tallied 13 kills and four blocks. Keegan Fornoff recorded 26 assists and 15 digs for her fourth career double-double. SEMO has won the last three matches and holds a 9-3 record dating back to 2011.
SIUE
Southeast trails in the all-time series with the Cougars, 7-8, with SIUE taking both meetings in 2016 (Oct. 1 and Nov. 4). The Redhawks last beat the Cougars on Halloween, Oct. 31, 2015, in Cape Girardeau, Missouri and the last SEMO victory in Edwardsville, Ill. was Nov. 1, 2013. Southeast won both meetings in 2009 to open the series.
 
Scouting the Panthers (7-9, 1-3)
Eastern Illinois split a pair of conference matches to SIUE and Tennessee State last week at Lantz Arena. EIU fell to SIUE before they defeated Tennessee State.
 
Freshman outside hitter Laurel Bailey led the team last week with 25 kills. Junior outside hitter/setter Taylor Smith had a double-double in both matches and now has seven straight double-doubles. Smith was two digs shy of a triple-double on Saturday when she recorded 11 kills, 27 assists and eight digs and totaled 49 assists over the two matches. Sophomore defensive specialist Anne Hughes recorded 41 digs and 11 assists last week.
 
EIU was selected to finish the season 11^th in the 2017 Ohio Valley Conference preseason poll.
 
Scouting the Cougars (12-4, 2-2)
SIUE picked up a pair of wins over EIU and Belmont last week to even their conference record at 2-2. The Cougars face UT Martin on Friday night before their match with SEMO on Saturday night.
 
Senior middle blocker Taylor Joens recorded 16 kills and a .533 hitting percentage against EIU and then added 14 kills on Saturday versus Belmont. Senior defensive specialist Katie Shashack led the Cougars with 36 digs over the two matches, including 21 at EIU. Sophomore setter Sammi Knight recorded 47 assists and sophomore setter Mallory Nicholson added 37.
 
SIUE was chosen third in the 2017 OVC preseason poll with two first-place votes. Joens (2016 All-OVC First Team) and senior outside hitter Jackie Scott (2016 All-OVC Second Team) were named to the 2017 Preseason All-OVC Volleyball Team.
 
Let's Recap
Southeast dropped a pair of matches last weekend at Houck Field House to Austin Peay (0-3) and Murray State (1-3). Krissa Gearring led the Redhawks with 20 kills over the two matches and Nzingha Clarke recorded 19 kills with a .410 hitting clip. Clarke also added 13 blocks. Libero Ally Dion had 28 digs and Gearring chipped in 27. Marie Less notched three service aces to tie her career-high on Saturday against Murray State. Allie Henkelman dished out 36 sets and Keegan Fornoff had 28.
 
Saturday Block Party
On Saturday, the Redhawks posted a season-high 18.0 total blocks, which was one shy of Southeast's match record of 19 set against Morehead in 1995. Southeast ranks first as a team in the conference for both blocks per set (2.31) and total blocks (162.0). SEMO's 162.0 total blocks puts them 24^th in the NCAA.
 
Nzingha Clarke led the team defensively with a career-best 11 total blocks and 10 block assists. Both were one off SEMO's individual match records. Haley Bilbruck notched a season-high 10 block assists and Krista Berns added a career-high seven total blocks. Madara Bajare also chipped in a season-high six block assists.
 
Clarke leads the OVC with 83 total blocks (1.20 blocks/set for second) and ranks 21^st in the NCAA. Berns has totaled 66 blocks (.94 blocks/set for sixth) this campaign for fourth best in the conference.
 
Double-Doubles
Nzingha Clarke and Keegan Fornoff recorded their first double-doubles in 2017. Clarke posted hers on Saturday against Murray State when she led the team with 11 total blocks and 14 kills. Fornoff recorded 11 assists and 11 digs on Friday versus Austin Peay for her fifth career double-double.
 
Fornoff the Facilitator
Setter Keegan Fornoff has recorded 369 assists this season and currently has totaled 898 in her Redhawks career. Fornoff will eclipse the 900 assists mark this weekend in Illinois 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, Mo. 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.