CHICAGO, Ill. – Southeast Missouri women's volleyball (5-8) lost both of their Chicago State Invitational matches in three sets on Friday at the Jacoby D. Dickens Center.
 
The Redhawks fell to Wright State in three sets on Friday morning and then lost a tight match to Eastern Michigan also in three in their afternoon set. The losses extended SEMO's losing streak to six matches.
 
Wright State 3, Southeast Missouri State 0 (25-13, 25-21, 25-14)
 
Wright State jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the match after they cruised through the opening set, 25-13.
 
Southeast hit a match-best .297 in the second set when they recorded 13 kills. Down 21-11 in the set, SEMO went on a 5-0 run to cut the deficit after taking their timeout.
 
Kills from Krista Berns, Krissa Gearring, a service ace from Ally Dion along with an attack error by Wright State brought the score to 21-16 prompting a Raiders timeout. Madara Bajare would add two kills but it wouldn't be enough as Wright State took the set, 25-21.
 
The Raiders closed out the match in the third set, 25-14.
 
Gearring led the Redhawks offense with seven kills and Haley Bilbruck chipped in five.
 
Defensively, Gearring, Clarke (five kills) and Bajare each recorded three blocks. Libero Emily Boggetto had 18 digs.
 
Setter Keegan Fornoff notched 14 assists and Allie Henkelman added 10.
 
Eastern Michigan 3, Southeast Missouri State 0 (28-26, 25-23, 25-22)
 
In the afternoon match, Southeast played a tough back and forth match with Eastern Michigan.
 
The Redhawks started the first set 3-0 before EMU went on a 6-0 run. Southeast and Eastern Michigan then shared leads of 10-10, 11-11, 12-12 and 13-13. Tied at 18-18, EMU went on a 4-1 run.
 
With set point two points away for the Eagles at 23-20 the Redhawks took a timeout. A kill from Bilbruck plus an attack error by EMU along with a block by Clarke and Kuhlmann tied the set at 24-24. Kuhlmann and Gearring tied the set at 25-25 and 26-26 with kills before EMU scored the final two points to claim the set.
 
Bilbruck had five kills in the opening set and finished the match with seven.
The second set continued the back and forth trend evident in the first set and featured 13 ties. Clarke and Kuhlmann combined for a block for the very last tie of the set. Jordan Smith hit a kill and then Samantha Falco tallied a block to give EMU a 2-0 edge with a 25-23 second set win.
 
Southeast hit a match-high .219 in the third and final set but it wasn't enough as the Eagles won the third set 25-22 to take the match.
 
Mikayla Kuhlmann led SEMO with nine kills and Gearring added seven.
 
Fornoff dished out 17 assists and Henkelman notched 13.
 
The match had 27 total ties with seven in both the first and third sets.

SEMO is back in action on Saturday at 4 p.m. against tournament host, Chicago State. Watch the match live on the WAC Digital Network.