CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Southeast Missouri women's volleyball (6-12, 1-3) picked up their first set victory against Murray State (11-5, 3-1) since 2013 but fell to the Racers in four sets (29-27, 17-25, 22-25, 20-25) Saturday afternoon at Houck Field House.
 
The 29-27 opening set win marked the first set win over Murray State for the Redhawks since Nov. 8, 2013 (2-3 loss at SEMO). Southeast hit a match-high .333 in the first set.
 
Senior Nzingha Clarke had a career day defensively, recording a career-best 11 total blocks with 10 assists and also led the team with 14 kills for her first double-double of the 2017 campaign. Haley Bilbruck notched a season-high 10 block assists and Krista Berns added a career-high seven total blocks.
 
Southeast Missouri notched a season-high 18.0 total blocks in the match.
 
Krissa Gearring added 11 kills and a season-high 21 digs for her sixth double-double of the season.
 
Southeast and Murray State opened the match with a very close, tight first set. Kills from Mikayla Kuhlmann, Clarke and Gearring evened the set early at 3-3, 4-4 and 5-5.
 
Clarke and Gearring each had five kills in the first set with Gearring connecting to even the frame at 21-21, prompting a Murray State timeout. Gearring added another kill to give SEMO a 25-24 lead, which brought on the Racers second timeout.
 
Out of the break, Berns and Bilbruck each notched kills to grow the Redhawks lead to 27-26. Murray State would tie the set at 27-27 on a Southeast error before Bilbruck slammed a kill and a Racers attack error ended the set.
 
Murray State responded with three-straight set wins to claim the match. The Racers capitalized on a 10-0 run at the beginning of the second set to take the second stanza, 25-17.
 
Marie Less tied a career-high of three service aces in the second set and hit back-to-back aces to cut the Racers lead to 14-6.
 
The Racers closed out the match with victories in the third and fourth set to close out the contest.
 
Southeast had a match-high seven total team blocks in the final set and Clarke and Bilbruck each notched five.
 
Setter Allie Henkelman dished out 20 assists and Keegan Fornoff added 17. Libero Ally Dion recorded 14 digs.
 
The Redhawks now head on the road for four-straight matches against Eastern Illinois, SIUE, Tennessee State and Belmont. Southeast faces EIU on Friday, Oct. 6 at 7 p.m. before taking on SIUE the next day, Oct. 7, at 2 p.m.