CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Southeast Missouri women's volleyball (10-19, 5-10) took the second and third sets on SIUE (22-5, 12-3) but were outlasted by the visiting Cougars in a tight five-set match (18-25, 25-17, 25-11, 19-25, 9-15) Friday evening at Houck Field House.
 
In the fifth set, SIUE jumped out to a 4-0 lead prompting a SEMO timeout. Marie Less recorded a kill to put the Redhawks on the board, 1-5.
 
Four straight points from Southeast then cut the deficit to 6-5. Emily Boggetto tallied an ace in the rally and Haley Bilbruck had a kill along with two Cougars attack errors. Senior Nzingha Clarke added a kill and seniors Jessica McElderry and Krissa Gearring joined forces for a block to keep the SIUE edge at one, 8-9.
 
McElderry would hit one more kill for the final Redhawks point as the Cougars claimed the set and the match with five unanswered points.
 
After dropping the opening set, Southeast bounced back with 25-17, 25-11 wins in the second and third frames. The Redhawks hit a match-best .458 in the third set after hitting a .318 clip in the second set.
 
Gearring led the Redhawks with 15 kills and 15 digs for her 11^th double-double in 2017. She posted eight of her 15 kills in the second set alone and now ranks seventh all-time in Redhawks program history with 1,289 career kills.
 
Clarke added 11 kills and Bilbruck had 8.
 
Clarke also had six total blocks (five assists and one solo) and has overtaken Theresa Sebacher (328 career block assists from 1993-96) for 10^th all-time in Southeast history with 330 career block assists. Clarke also ranks 10^th all-time in career total blocks at SEMO with 452.
 
McElderry hit a match-high and season-high .357. McElderry also tallied a season-high seven kills and four blocks (one solo, three assists) with three digs. She tallied four of her seven kills in the third set.
 
Mikayla Kuhlmann also added seven kills.
 
Senior Allie Henkelman posted a career-high and match-best 34 assists. She also had 11 digs for her 12^th double-double performance of the season. Libero Ally Dion had 14 digs.
 
Southeast outblocked SIUE, 12-10, and outhit the Cougars, .239 to .182. 
 
SEMO faces Eastern Illinois in the regular-season finale Saturday at 2 p.m. at Houck Field House. Saturday's match is Senior Day, presented by Chateau Girardeau. Southeast will recognize seniors Allie Henkelman, Marie Less, Jessica McElderry, Nzingha Clarke and Krissa Gearring prior to the contest.