#8 Southeast Missouri (11-19, 6-10)
at #1 Austin Peay (27-5, 14-2)
Match Information
Date: Thursday, Nov. 16
First Serve: 7 p.m.
Location: Clarksville, Tenn.
Venue: Winfield Dunn Center
Series: SEMO leads 35-29
 
Media Information
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
Video: OVC Digital Network
 
Follow the Redhawks on Twitter for in-match updates @SEMOvb
 
Complete Match Notes: Southeast Missouri
 
OVC Championship Bound Redhawks
Southeast Missouri women's volleyball (11-19, 6-10) claimed the eighth and final seed in the Ohio Valley Conference Championship and will face #1 seed Austin Peay Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Winfield Dunn Center on the campus of Austin Peay in Clarksville, Tennessee. 
 
Thursday marks the 24^th OVC Tournament appearance for Southeast and its first tournament berth since 2015.
 
Follow the Redhawks
• Live stats will be available for Thursday's match and all OVC Championship matches this weekend. The live stat link can be found on the volleyball schedule on GoSoutheast.com.
• Thursday's match and all OVC Championship matches this weekend will also 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.
 
OVC Championship Tournament History
Southeast is 27-18 at the OVC Championship Tournament dating back to 1991 but is 0-2 as a No. 8 seed since 1998 on. Against Austin Peay at the tournament, the Redhawks are .500 with a 4-4 record. SEMO is 1-1 in Clarksville, Tennessee with both matches occurring in 1992.
 
The Redhawks last won the OVC Championship in 2000, which capped their three-peat of OVC titles from 1998 to 2000. Southeast has also won in 1994 and 1996.
 
Series History
Southeast leads the all-time series with Austin Peay, 35-29, and will face the Governors for a third time in 2017. The Redhawks fell to Austin Peay in straight sets in Cape Girardeau, Missouri on Sept. 29 and then in Clarksville, Tennessee on Nov. 4. The Governors have won the last five contests.
 
SEMO last beat Austin Peay on Sept. 26, 2015, 3-1, in Cape.
 
Scouting the Opponent
Austin Peay, the OVC Championship host, led the conference with a 14-2 record and a 27-5 mark overall to earn the top seed. The Governors split their final week of regular season play with a 1-3 loss against Murray State on Wednesday, Nov. 8 and a sweep of Morehead State on Saturday, Nov. 11.
 
Junior setter, Kristen Stucker earned OVC Co-Setter of the Week after she posted 48 assists and 19 digs versus Murray State and then 40 assists at Morehead State. Stucker leads the conference with 11.74 assists per set (669 assists).
 
Senior middle blocker/rightside hitter Ashley Slay leads the team with 443 kills this season and is fifth in conference matches with a .327 hitting percentage. Slay is third with 3.75 kills per set and second with 4.41 points per set.
 
As a team, Austin Peay ranks first in conference matches for hitting percentage (.243), assists (13.32 assists per set), kills (14.12 kills per set) and is second for service aces (1.51 service ace per set) and digs (17.42 digs per set).
 
Redhawks Against the Field
In the regular season, Southeast swept #6-seed Jacksonville State (1-0) on Sept. 23 in Cape and split the two-match series with No. 7 Eastern Illinois (1-1).
 
The Redhawks fell in both matches to No. 1 Austin Peay (0-2), No. 2 SIUE (0-2) and No. 3 Murray State (0-2). SEMO took a set on SIUE in Edwardsville, Illinois and forced a fifth set in Cape. Against Murray State, Southeast won the opening set in Cape and took two sets in Murray, Kentucky. The Redhawks also fell in each of their matches to No. 4 Eastern Kentucky (0-1) and No. 6 Belmont (0-1).
 
Let's Recap  
Southeast split their final regular season matches of the season this past weekend. The Redhawks dropped a 2-3 decision to SIUE on Friday, Nov. 10 and then beat Eastern Illinois, 3-2, on Saturday, Nov. 11. Krissa Gearring led the offense with 28 total kills over the two matches. Haley Bilbruck added 23 kills including a career-best 15-kill effort on Saturday. Nzingha Clarke posted 20 kills. Defensively, Ally Dion led the team with 34 digs and Clarke compiled 11 total blocks. Setter Allie Henkelman led the team with 65 assists including a career-high 34 on Friday.
 
Into the SEMO Record Books
Seniors Nzingha Clarke and Krissa Gearring both etched their names into the Southeast record books over this past weekend. Clarke now ranks 10^th all-time in program history in career block assists with 333 and career total blocks with 457. Gearring is seventh all-time in career kills with 1,302 and third all-time for career attack attempts with 4,067.
 
Stat Leaders in the OVC
Nzingha Clarke leads the OVC in hitting with a .374 clip. She is also second with 1.41 blocks per set (82.0 total blocks).
 
Krissa Gearring ranks sixth in the conference with 3.33 kills per set (193 kills) and seventh in the OVC with 3.84 points per set (222.5 total points).
 
Ally Dion is eighth in the league with 4.05 digs per set (239 digs) and 10^th in the OVC for service aces with 0.31 service ace per set (18 service aces).
 
Looking Ahead
If Southeast wins Thursday, they would face the winner of No. 4 Eastern Kentucky and No. 5 Belmont Friday in the semifinals at 5 p.m.
 
Signing Day 2017
Middle blocker Elissa Moylan, rightside hitter Colby Greene and setter Claire Ochs all signed their NLIs (National Letter of Intents) during the early signing period and will join the team next fall for the 2018 season.
 
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 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.