CHICAGO, Ill. – Southeast Missouri women's volleyball (5-9) dropped a five-set thriller to tournament host, Chicago State (9-6), Saturday afternoon at the Jacoby D. Dickens Center.
 
Chicago State won the first and third sets with the Redhawks evening the match with set victories in the second and fourth. The Cougars prevailed in the fifth set 15-13 to take the match 27-25, 20-25, 25-23, 23-25, 15-13.
 
The loss extends SEMO's losing streak to seven matches.
 
Krissa Gearring led the Redhawks with a season-high 25 kills and recorded her fifth double-double of the season. Gearring finished the tournament with 39 kills and 24 digs to earn Chicago State Invitational All-Tournament honors.
 
Mikayla Kuhlmann chipped in 11 kills and Nzingha Clarke added 10. Clarke also recorded a team-high seven blocks with Madara Bajare.
 
Setter Allie Henkelman totaled 32 assists and Keegan Fornoff had 24. Defensively, libero Ally Dion made 24 digs. Marie Less added a season-high 10.
 
Chicago State outlasted the Redhawks in the opening set, 27-25 and started the set with a 4-0 lead. An attack error by Chicago State gave SEMO a 20-18 lead. The Cougars went on a 4-0 run to take a 22-20 lead. Kuhlmann hit back-to-back kills to tie the set at 23-23. Haley Bilbruck slammed a kill to put Southeast back on top at 25-24. Lauryn Dela Cruz recorded three-straight kills to close out the set.
 
In the second set, SEMO and Chicago State exchanged the lead before Clarke crushed a kill to the set at 15-15. Two kills by Gearring and a service ace from Dion propelled the Redhawks to a 20-17 lead in the set. Southeast went on a 4-0 run to close out the set punctuated by a Krista Berns kill and service ace.
 
Chicago State responded with a 25-23 third set to take a 2-1 lead in the match. The Redhawks ended the set with an 8-0 run to cut the Cougars lead to 24-23. Gearring had three kills in the rally and Bilbruck added one. Carmen Carvajal then hit a kill to end the set at 25-23.
 
In the fourth set, SEMO reversed the score of the previous set in the Redhawks favor. Kills from Clarke and Gearring along with a handful of Cougars errors extended the Southeast lead to 16-10. Bajare and Gearring added two kills to grow the lead to 21-16. CSU then went on a 5-0 run to tie the set at 21-21 prompting a SEMO timeout. The Redhawks regrouped and finished out the set with kills from Bilbruck and Clarke to even the match at 2-2.
 
Southeast hit a match-high .474 in the fifth and final set. Gearring recorded five kills in the set and tied the set at 12-12. Dela Cruz then hit a kill followed by a Berns kill to tie the set again, this time at 13-13. The Cougars closed out the set to seal the victory with kills from Dela Cruz and Carvajal.
 
Southeast opens Ohio Valley Conference play on Tuesday when they play UT Martin (6-7) in Martin, Tenn.