EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – Southeast Missouri women's volleyball (6-14, 1-5) picked up a marathon opening-set win but dropped a four-set decision (31-29, 14-25, 23-25, 16-25) to SIUE (14-4, 4-2) Saturday afternoon at the Vadalabene Center.

The back-and-forth first set featured five lead changes and 11 ties starting at 9-9 courtesy of a kill by Haley Bilbruck. Down 11-14, the Redhawks went on a 5-0 run on kills from Nzingha Clarke (2) and Mikayla Kuhlmann to take a 16-14 edge prompting an SIUE timeout.

Southeast grew their lead to 21-19 on a service ace from Keegan Fornoff, which brought on a second Cougars timeout. A kill from Krissa Gearring along with two errors by SIUE gave the Redhawks set point, 24-20.

The Cougars came back with five straight points to take a 25-24 lead. Kills from Gearring, Clarke and an SIUE attack error made the score 25-25, 26-26 and 27-27.

Gearring then added another kill and Ally Dion hit a service ace for a 29-28 SEMO edge. The Cougars would receive a kill from Kiana Fields for the final tie of the set, 29-29. Southeast closed out the set, 31-29, on back-to-back errors from SIUE.

Clarke led the Redhawks with six kills in the first set and Gearring added five.

The Cougars responded with a 25-14 second set on a .469 team-hitting clip to even the match at 1-1 heading into the break. SEMO hit a match-high .167 in the second set.

After the intermission in the third set, Southeast fought back but dropped a tight 23-25 set with eight ties.

SEMO hit a match-high 5.0 total blocks in that set. Maggie Adams led the team with three of her career-best four blocks. Gearring, Clarke, Madeline Grimm, Madara Bajare and Bilbruck (2) also added blocks in the frame.

Trailing the set, 16-12, Southeast called a timeout before a 4-0 rally tied the third set at 16-16. Grimm then hit a kill to tie the set again at 18-18. Bajare added two more kills to even the set at 22-22 and Gearring slammed a kill to make the score 23-23. SIUE closed out the set 25-23 on a kill from Ashley Witt and a SEMO error.

The Cougars closed out the contest with a 25-16 fourth set victory to win the first of two Ohio Valley Conference matches this season between the two clubs.

Gearring finished the match with 14 kills and 14 digs with four block assists for her seventh double-double of the campaign. Clarke recorded nine kills with five block assists during the afternoon match.

Setter Keegan Fornoff dished out 18 assists and compiled 10 digs for her second double-double in 2017. Allie Henkelman added 11 assists along with 12 digs for her second straight double-double and sixth of the season.

Libero Ally Dion led the team defensively with 17 digs and Grimm had eight.

The Redhawks continue their road swing next weekend in the Music City, Nashville, Tennessee, with matches against Tennessee State and Belmont. Southeast faces Tennessee State at 6 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 13 before they take on Belmont on Saturday, Oct. 14 at 2 p.m.