Southeast Missouri (6-10, 1-1)
vs. Austin Peay (14-2, 2-0)
Match Information
Date: Friday, Sept. 29, 2017
First Serve: 6:30 p.m. CT
Location: Cape Girardeau, Mo.
Venue: Houck Field House
Series: SEMO leads 35-27
 
Media Information
Live Stats: GoSoutheast.com
Video: OVC Digital Network
 
vs. Murray State (10-4, 2-0)
Match Information
Date: Saturday, Sept. 30, 2017
First Serve: 1 p.m. CT
Location: Cape Girardeau, Mo.
Venue: Houck Field House
Series: SEMO leads 51-29
 
Media Information
Live Stats: GoSoutheast.com
 
Follow the Redhawks on Twitter for in-match updates @SEMOvb
 
Complete Match Notes: GoSoutheast.com
 
Home Sweet Home
Southeast Missouri women's volleyball (6-10, 1-1) faces Austin Peay (14-2, 2-0) on Friday at 6:30 p.m. followed by a mid-afternoon matchup on Saturday at 1 p.m. against Murray State (10-4, 2-0).
 
Friday and Saturday mark Southeast's second and third straight Ohio Valley Conference matches at Houck Field House. The Redhawks are 5-0 this season at home and are on a seven-game win streak in Cape Girardeau, Mo. that dates back to Nov. 8, 2016.
 
Family Weekend Promotions
Friday
Friday night is the fifth annual Houck "Filled" House Night. Help us break the Houck Field House volleyball attendance record of 1,206 set in 2014. The first 900 fans in attendance will receive a Redhawks Game of Thrones t-shirt, courtesy of Jimmy John's. Fans can also receive autographs from the team after the contest.
Saturday
Saturday continues Family Weekend with Take a Kid to the Game. Kids 14 and under receive FREE ADMISSION to Saturday's match against Murray State and must be accompanied by an adult. Fans can also receive free admission to the match with a Redhawks Football ticket for Saturday's game (6 p.m. kickoff). The team will also be signing post-match autographs.
 
Series History
Austin Peay
SEMO leads the all-time series with the Governors, 35-27. Southeast lost the most-recent matchup with Austin Peay on Oct. 29, 2016, 2-3 (23-25, 25-20, 30-28, 22-25, 8-15), at Houck Field House. Krissa Gearring led the Redhawks with 18 kills and Nzingha Clarke recorded 13 kills with three blocks. Madeline Grimm chipped in 10 kills and Marie Less added nine kills and a team-high 25 digs. Keegan Fornoff dished out a team-best 27 assists. The Governors have won the three-most recent meetings including both contests in 2016. Southeast last won on Sept. 26, 2015 (25-21, 25-13, 20-25, 25-19) in Cape Girardeau, Mo.
Murray State
Southeast also leads the all-time series with Murray State, 51-29, but the Racers have won the last nine-straight meetings. Murray State took the most recent tilt, 3-0 (25-22, 25-21, 25-23), at Houck Field House on Oct. 28, 2016. Krissa Gearring notched 12 kills with 11 digs and Nzingha Clarke added nine kills in the match. SEMO last won, a 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-12) sweep, on Oct. 12, 2013 in Murray, Ky.
 
Scouting the Governors (14-2, 2-0)
Austin Peay enters the matchup on Friday night at SEMO sporting a 14-2 overall record and a 2-0 mark in the OVC. The Governors beat Alabama A&M on Wednesday in three straight sets (25-20, 25-12, 25-9) in Huntsville, Ala.
 
Last weekend, Austin Peay opened conference play with two home wins over SIUE and Eastern Illinois. The Governors outlasted SIUE in five sets (25-19, 24-26, 25-21, 17-25, 19-17) on Friday. Redshirt junior Christina White posted 17 kills and 16 digs in the victory and junior setter Kristen Stucker recorded 49 assists. On Saturday, APSU beat EIU in four (16-25, 25-10, 31-29, 25-18) with White (18 kills) and senior middle blocker/right side hitter Ashley Slay (17 kills) combining for 35 total kills.
 
Austin Peay was chosen to finish second in the 2017 OVC preseason poll and racked up six first-place votes. Slay and Stucker were both selected to the 2017 Preseason All-OVC Team after earning first team honors in 2016. Stucker was also the 2016 OVC Setter of the Year.
 
Scouting the Racers (10-4, 2-0)
Murray State ventures to Cape Girardeau, Mo. after a stop in Martin, Tenn. on Friday night for a matchup with the Skyhawks.
 
Last weekend, the Racers like Austin Peay also beat Eastern Illinois and SIUE in back-to-back matchups. Sophomore outside hitter Rachel Giustino led Murray on Friday against EIU with 21 kills and sophomore setter Courtney Radle recorded 35 assists in the four-set match (20-25, 25-20, 25-18, 25-22). On Saturday, Murray State came out on top in a five-set win (26-24, 20-25, 26-24, 18-25, 15-13) over SIUE. Giustino again led the Racers offense with 20 kills and redshirt junior middle blocker Dacia Brown added 12. Sophomore libero Alex Kaufmann recorded 30 digs defensively and totaled 49 to earn Adidas OVC Defensive Player of the Week.
 
Murray State head coach David Schwepker returns to his alma mater, Southeast (1987), for the 20^th season as coach of the Racers. Schwepker spent time as an assistant at SEMO from 1992-94 and helped the Redhawks to two OVC regular season titles (1993 and '94) and an OVC Tournament title in 1994.
 
Murray State won their third consecutive OVC title last season and was selected to finish fourth in the 2017 OVC preseason poll. The Racers received six-first place votes.
 
Let's Recap
Southeast split last week's conference matches to open OVC play with a 1-1 record. The Redhawks fell to UT Martin in four sets (25-22, 25-27, 19-25, 20-25) in Martin, Tenn. before sweeping Jacksonville State, 25-14, 25-22, 25-20, for their first OVC win of the season in the fifth match held in Cape Girardeau, Mo. and second at Houck Field House. Krista Berns led the Redhawks offense last week with a .640 hitting clip and notched 18 kills (season-high nine at both UTM and versus JSU). Berns hit a season-high .727 on Saturday against the Gamecocks. Krissa Gearring totaled 26 kills over the two matches and Nzingha Clarke tallied 18 and Mikayla Kuhlmann chipped in 17. Setter Keegan Fornoff posted 53 assists and Allie Henkelman had 33. Southeast is now one win away from matching their total from 2016.
 
How We Rank
Southeast leads the conference with 2.21 blocks per set, 139.0 total blocks and 94 service aces. In the NCAA, the Redhawks rank 19^th in team service aces and 27^th in team total blocks.
 
SEMO boasts the conference block leader in Nzingha Clarke with 70 (32^nd in the NCAA). Clarke also ranks second in the OVC for hitting percentage (.370) and third in blocks per set with 1.13.
 
Krista Berns has added 56 blocks this season for fourth in the OVC. Ally Dion leads the conference with 0.45 aces per set and is fourth in the OVC for service aces with 21.
 
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 Girardeau, Mo. 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.
 
Looking Ahead
After Saturday's match the Redhawks head on the road for four-straight matches against Eastern Illinois, SIUE, Tennessee State and Belmont. Southeast faces EIU on Oct. 6 at 7 p.m. before taking on SIUE the next day, Oct. 7, at 2 p.m.
 
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.