CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – No. 8 seed Southeast Missouri women's volleyball (11-20, 6-10) fell to No. 1 seed Austin Peay (28-5, 14-2) in straight sets (18-25, 19-25, 13-25) Thursday evening in the first round of the 2017 Ohio Valley Conference Volleyball Championship at the Winfield Dunn Center on the campus of Austin Peay.
 
Austin Peay will now take on No. 4 seed Eastern Kentucky in the second semifinal on Friday at 5 p.m. after No. 7 Eastern Illinois faces No. 3 Murray State in the first semifinal at 2:30 p.m.
 
EIU upset No. 2 seed SIUE, 3-1, and Murray State beat No. 6 Jacksonville State in four earlier on Thursday.
 
Mikayla Kuhlmann led the Redhawks offense with seven kills on a .438 hitting clip. Krissa Gearring tallied seven kills, Nzingha Clarke had six and Haley Bilbruck added five in the match.
 
Allie Henkelman posted match-highs with 15 assists and 12 digs for her team leading 13^th double-double of the season.
 
In the opening set, Southeast took an early 2-0 lead with back-to-back kills from Bilbruck. A Kaylee Taff kill brought the score to 16-13 in favor of the Governors before a Gearring kill cut the lead to 16-14.
 
Austin Peay then went on a 4-0 run to extend their edge to 20-14 prompting Southeast's second timeout of the set. Kills from Kuhlmann and then Bilbruck would bring SEMO within six points, 24-18, but the Governors took the set on a Brooke Moore kill.
 
In the second set, the Redhawks hit a match-high .235. A Moore kill plus back-to-back service aces from 2017 OVC Player of the Year, Ashley Slay, gave the Governors a 17-12 lead that they would not relinquish.
 
APSU would go up, 19-13, as Southeast called its second timeout. After the break, the Redhawks went on a 3-0 rally with a block from Clarke and a Gearring kill to make the score, 19-16. The Governors would close out the set with Southeast scoring two more points on a Marie Less kill and a Ginny Gerig service error.
 
Austin Peay closed out the match with a 25-13 third set win to advance to Friday's semifinals.
 
Southeast finishes the season with an 11-20 overall record and a 6-10 mark for eighth in the OVC.