Carbondale, Ill. – Southeast Missouri women's volleyball (5-6) dropped a five-set thriller to regional rival, Southern Illinois (1-7), 3-2, Tuesday night at SIU Arena.
 
The Redhawks claimed the first and third sets with the host Salukis taking sets two and four to force a decisive fifth set. SIU captured the match with a 15-13 final set and won the match 20-25, 25-21, 21-25, 25-17, 15-13.
 
Sophomore outside hitter Mikayla Kuhlmann posted a career-high 20 kills to lead the SEMO offense. Krissa Gearring chipped in 13 kills and 15 digs for her fourth double-double of the season and second straight.
 
Nzingha Clarke added 12 kills and now has compiled 802 kills in her Redhawks career. Clarke also hit a team-best .579 in the match.
 
Setter Keegan Fornoff notched 31 assists and Allie Henkelman added 20.
 
Defensively, libero Emily Boggetto totaled 15 digs and Henkelman added nine.
 
SEMO trailed the opening set from the beginning but gained steam as it progressed. Southeast tied the set at 14-14, 15-15, 16-16 and then 18-18 before pulling away for the first set victory. A service ace from Boggetto and a kill from Kuhlmann would give SEMO a 19-18 edge. Kuhlmann would then add two more kills as the Redhawks closed out the set, 25-20. The St. Louis, Mo. native finished the first set with seven kills.
 
The Salukis responded with a 25-21 second set victory to knot the match at 1-1.
 
The third set like the first was another back and forth affair. A kill by Krista Berns (8 kills, 5 total blocks) along with back-to-back Salukis errors brought the SEMO lead to 18-13. Gearring perfectly placed her kill and Ally Dion recorded her second service ace of the match to close out the third set, 25-21. Gearring and Kuhlmann each recorded five kills in the third set alone.
 
Southern Illinois had another answer for the Redhawks as they took the fourth set 25-17 to force a fifth set.
 
Southeast jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the fifth set courtesy of two kills from Clarke and some Saluki ball-handling errors. Kuhlmann and Clarke would then combine for a block to grow the SEMO lead to 5-1 followed by two kills by Kuhlmann to make the score 7-4.
 
Southern Illinois replied with three straight points to even the score at 7-7. Gearring then hit two kills to give SEMO leads of 8-7 and 9-8. SIU responded with a kill from Andrea Estrada and a SEMO attack error to take a 10-9 edge.
 
Kills from Clarke, Haley Bilbruck (6 kills) and Gearring would keep the set tied at 10-10, 11-11, and 12-12. Kuhlmann then hit a kill to make the score 13-12 prompting a Saluki timeout.
 
Kolby Meeks and Abby Barrow hit back-to-back kills and SIU would take the final set, 15-13, for their first win of the 2017 season.
 
The match between the Redhawks and Southern Illinois marked the sixth time head coach Julie Yankus has faced her former team. Yankus served as an associate head coach at SIU from 2006 to 2010 where she compiled a 75-71 record. With the defeat, she is now 1-5 against her former team and 0-3 against the Salukis in Carbondale, Ill.
 
SEMO will now travel to the Windy City for the Chicago State Tournament Sept. 15-16 to conclude nonconference play. The Redhawks open their conference schedule on the road against Tennessee Martin on Sept. 19.