CHARLESTON, Ill. – Southeast Missouri women's volleyball (6-13, 1-4) fell in three sets (19-25, 21-25, 17-25) to Eastern Illinois (8-9, 2-3) Friday night at Lantz Arena.
 
The match was the first of two OVC matches between the two teams. The Panthers will head to Cape Girardeau, Missouri for the second and final regular season meeting on Nov. 11.
 
EIU jumped out to a 5-0 start in the opening frame before kills from Krissa Gearring and Haley Bilbruck along with an ace from Krista Berns knotted the score at 5-5 for the only tie in the first set.
 
Mikayla Kuhlmann hit two of her three opening set kills to cut the lead to two points at 13-15 and then 14-16 but the Panthers would not relinquish the lead and took the first set, 25-19.
 
The second set was more competitive as Southeast and Eastern Illinois would be tied 13 times and exchange the lead eight times. SEMO also hit a match-high .167 in the set with five kills from Nzingha Clarke.
 
With the Redhawks leading 15-14, the Panthers rallied off four-straight points to take an 18-15 edge. Southeast then tied the frame at 19-19 after kills from Clarke, Madara Bajare and a block assist by Krista Berns and Krissa Gearring.
 
Eastern Illinois would grow their lead to 21-19 before a Bajare kill cut the deficit to a point, 20-21. Haley Bilbruck would add a kill to make the score 21-24 before Abby Knight hit a kill of her own to claim the second set, 25-21.
 
The Panthers continued their momentum after the intermission and sealed the match with a 25-17 third set win.
 
Clarke led the Redhawks offense with 11 kills on a .476 hitting clip. Gearring and Bajare each chipped in five.
 
Setter Allie Henkelman dished out 21 assists and tallied 12 digs for her fifth double-double of the season. Henkelman also notched a kill and a service ace.
 
Keegan Fornoff added seven assists and has now eclipsed 900 assists in her Redhawks career. Fornoff currently ranks 10^th in program history with 905.
 
Defensively, libero Ally Dion led the team with 16 digs.
 
Jessica McElderry played in her first match of the 2017 campaign and was perfect on both her swings.
 
The Redhawks head to Edwardsville, Illinois tomorrow for a 2 p.m. match against SIUE at Vadalabene Center.