CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Southeast Missouri women's volleyball (11-19, 6-10) competed in its second consecutive five-set match of the weekend on Saturday afternoon at Houck Field. After dropping a 3-2 decision on Friday night to SIUE, the Redhawks prevailed on Senior Day Saturday over Eastern Illinois (14-14, 8-8) in their regular season finale, 3-2 (25-17, 20-25, 25-22, 21-25, 15-7).
With the win, Southeast has qualified for the 2017 Ohio Valley Conference Volleyball Championship as the eighth seed. The Redhawks will face #1 Austin Peay on Thursday, Nov. 16 at 7 p.m.
"I'm very happy that our seniors could end their time at Houck with a win and I'm grateful for everything they have done for our program," head coach
Julie Yankus said of the five seniors. "The seniors led the team to a great win today. They remained composed and continued to fight hard through a very tough match. We will miss our seniors next year."
Prior to the contest, seniors
Krissa Gearring,
Nzingha Clarke,
Jessica McElderry,
Marie Less and
Allie Henkelman were honored for their Redhawks careers.
Gearring recorded her 12
th double-double of 2017 on Saturday with 13 kills and 17 digs. Clarke added nine kills in the match with five blocks (two solo, three assists). McElderry posted her second-straight seven-kill performance of the season on a season-best .500 hitting percentage. Less tallied five kills and nine digs with two service aces and Henkelman had a team-high 31 assists with seven digs.
Southeast opened the match with a 25-17 first set win on a match-high .361 hitting clip. The Redhawks jumped out to a 7-2 lead prompting an early Panthers timeout. A kill from Clarke and a Less service ace brought the score to 16-9 and another Eastern Illinois timeout.
Gearring and McElderry teamed up for a block to give SEMO a 20-11 edge. Eastern Illinois went on a 4-0 run to cut the deficit to five, 15-20. The Redhawks called their timeout and then rallied off three straight kills from
Haley Bilbruck,
Allie Henkelman and Clarke to seal the opening set, 25-17.
In the first set, all six of the Redhawks attackers had two or more kills.
Eastern Illinois then took the second set, 25-20, to tie the match at 1-1 heading into the break. The Panthers hit a match-best .300 in the second frame with Taylor Smith and Allie Hueston each recording four kills in the set.
Down 22-13, Southeast went on a 5-0 run bookended by kills from Bilbruck to bring EIU's lead to 22-18. The Redhawks would come as close as 20-23 with kills from Less and Clarke but the Panthers took the set, 25-20.
After the break, SEMO would take a 2-1 edge in the match after a 25-22 third set win. The Redhawks grew their lead in the third stanza to 9-4 with kills from
Madara Bajare, McElderry and Gearring. Another kill from Gearring plus an Eastern Illinois attack error made the score 20-13.
At set point, 15-24, the Panthers mounted a comeback behind a 7-0 run to come within two points, 22-24. An EIU attack error gave the set to Southeast, 25-22.
Eastern Illinois knotted the match at 2-2 with a 25-21 fourth set win. The Panthers hit .286 with their backs against the wall to force a fifth set.
In the fifth and final set, Southeast outhit EIU, .222 to -.136. The Panthers started the tiebreaker with an early 3-0 lead before a Bilbruck kill and Gearring service ace put SEMO on the board, 2-3.
Three-straight Eastern Illinois attack errors along with a kill from
Mikayla Kuhlmann gave the Redhawks an 8-5 lead. Southeast went on another 4-0 run to grow their fifth set lead to 12-6 with kills from Bajare and Clarke along with a service ace from Less.
SEMO then closed out the set to claim the match on a block assist from Gearring and McElderry, 15-7.
Bilbruck led the Redhawks offense with a career-best 15 kill outing on a .393 hitting percentage. Bajare recorded six kills on a season-high .667 hitting percentage as she entered the match in the second set.
Libero
Ally Dion led the defense with 20 digs.
With the victory, Southeast finishes the season with an 11-19 overall record and a 6-10 mark in the Ohio Valley Conference. The win also evens the 2017 series with EIU at 1-1 with both school's victories occurring at their home court.
SEMO entered the contest tied for eighth in the conference with Morehead State and UT Martin, looking to clinch a berth in the 2017 OVC Championship tournament next week at Austin Peay in Clarksville, Tennessee.
Austin Peay swept Morehead State earlier today and SIUE beat UT Martin in five.
