Southeast Missouri (12-7, 4-2)
vs. Eastern Kentucky (3-15, 2-4)
Match Information
Date: Friday, Oct. 12, 2018
First Serve: 5 p.m., CT
Location: Richmond, Ky. 
Venue: Madison Central High School (705 North 2nd St.)
Series: Southeast leads all-time series 36-10
Live Stats: SIDEARM Stats
 
vs. Morehead State (15-5, 6-1)
Match Information
Date: Saturday, Oct. 13, 2018
First Serve: 1 p.m., CT
Location: Morehead, Ky.   
Venue: Wetherby Gym
Series: Southeast leads all-time series 27-21
Video: OVC Digital Network
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
 
Complete Match Notes: Southeast Missouri (PDF)
 
Southeast Heads to Kentucky this Weekend for Second OVC Road Trip of 2018 
Southeast Missouri women's volleyball (12-7, 4-2) continues its 2018 schedule with its second Ohio Valley Conference road trip. The Redhawks face Eastern Kentucky Friday (Oct. 12) at 5 p.m. in Richmond, Kentucky, before a 1 p.m. contest with Morehead State, Saturday (Oct. 13) in Morehead, Kentucky.
 
Follow the Redhawks
• Stats will be available for Southeast's matches on Friday and Saturday at GoSoutheast.com.
• @SEMOvb, the official Twitter page of Redhawks volleyball, will feature live in-game updates all season long.
 
Series History
Southeast leads the all-time series with Eastern Kentucky 36-10.
 
The Colonels won the lone matchup in 2017, 3-0, on Oct. 21 at Houck Field House. Krissa Gearring led SEMO offensively with 12 kills and added 10 digs for her eighth double-double of the season. Mikayla Kuhlmann chipped in 11 kills. Allie Henkelman also recorded her eighth double-double of 2017 with 21 assists and 16 digs. Defensively, Nzingha Clarke matched her career-high of 11 blocks and also tallied seven kills. Libero Ally Dion led the team with 19 digs.
 
The Redhawks last beat EKU, 3-1 (26-24, 25-20, 17-25, 25-20), on Oct. 9, 2015. 
 
SEMO also leads the all-time series with Morehead State, 27-21. The Redhawks won the 2017 meeting, 3-0, on Pink Up Night on Oct. 20. Krissa Gearring led the Southeast offense with 11 kills and Haley Bilbruck notched a career-high 10 kills on a .643 hitting clip. Mikayla Kuhlmann and Nzingha Clarke each added nine kills with identical .444 hitting percentages. Bilbruck (107) and Madara Bajare (100) also each recorded their 100th kills of the season.
 
Scouting the Opponents
Colonels
Eastern Kentucky is 3-15 in 2018 with a 2-4 mark in the OVC. The Colonels opened the season with six straight losses before a win over California State Fullerton in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Sept. 7. EKU then went on a five-match losing streak before conference wins over Tennessee Tech (3-2, Sept. 21) and Jacksonville State (3-2, Sept. 22). This past week, Eastern Kentucky dropped matches to Tennessee State and Belmont. 
 
Cassie Knutson led the team with 31 kills over the two matches. She had 12 versus Tennessee State and followed that up with 19 versus Belmont. Senior Chloe Rojas totaled 37 digs last week, including 25 versus the Bruins.
 
EKU faces UT Martin on Thursday at home before Friday's match with Southeast.
 
The Colonels were picked to finish fourth this season in the league. 
 
Eagles
Morehead State is second in the conference with a 6-1 record and an overall mark of 15-5. MSU topped Belmont and Tennessee State, 3-0, last week. Jessie Wachtman totaled 18 kills with just two errors for a team-high .533 hitting percentage. She also notched nine blocks last week. Maddie Fella also had nine blocks over the two matches to go with five digs and seven kills. Chandler Clark dished out 67 assists to go with 21 digs over the six sets last week. She helped the team hit .220. Allison Whitten collected 28 digs on the week.
 
The Eagles were victorious over UT Martin, 3-1, in their Wednesday home match. Olivia Lohmeier led MSU with 18 kills and a career-high 10 digs, notching her first double-double of the season. Senior right-side hitter Jordan Jones added 14 winners while Wachtman also totaled double-digit kills with 11. Chandler Clark dished out 44 assists in the match and posted a career-high tying 16 digs. 
 
Morehead State was pegged to finish the 2018 campaign sixth in the OVC.
 
Tennessee Tech Saturday Matinee Recap
Annie Wehrheim recorded a career best 24 kills including six in the fifth set as Southeast outlasted Tennessee Tech, 3-2 (25-16, 25-22, 22-25, 23-25, 15-13), Saturday (Oct. 6) at Houck Field House.
 
Laney Malloy, Haley Bilbruck and Claire Ochs each recorded double-doubles in the victory. Malloy totaled 13 kills with a team high 18 digs. Bilbruck notched her fourth straight career double-double with 13 kills along with a career-tying mark of 15 digs. 
 
Ochs dished out a team best 54 assists with 14 digs. She also matched a career best of three service aces. Ally Dion posted 14 digs and Madeline Grimm added eight.
 
SEMO out blocked the Golden Eagles, 12-8, as Malloy paced the team with a career best of six. Krista Berns also had six total blocks and both Adams and Bilbruck tallied four each.
 
12 Overall Wins in 2018
With the victory on Saturday (Oct. 6), Southeast has now tallied their highest win total of 12 in the past four seasons. 
 
UT Martin Tuesday Night Recap 
SEMO ousted UT Martin, 3-1 (25-23, 25-23, 14-25, 25-18), Tuesday (Oct.2) night at Houck Field House to improve its league record to 3-2 in 2018. Laney Malloy, Haley Bilbruck and Claire Ochs each recorded double-doubles in the victory. 
 
Malloy paced the Redhawks offense with 16 kills to complement 14 digs. Bilbruck notched her third straight career double-double when she matched a personal-best outing of 15 kills and 15 digs. Ochs dished out 40 assists with 18 digs. Ally Dion led the team defensively with 22 digs and Madeline Grimm had 10.
 
Redhawks Leading the Conference
Claire Ochs leads the OVC with 27 service aces (11 in OVC play). She is also second in the league with 770 total assists (second in OVC matches with 280) and fourth in both aces per set (0.36) and assists per set (10.27).
 
Maggie Adams leads the conference with 73 total blocks and is second with 0.97 blocks per set. 
 
Laney Malloy tops the OVC with 763 total attacks and is second in points (763) and total kills (252). She is also fourth with 10.17 attacks per set. In league play, Malloy is third with 106 points and fourth with 90 kills.
 
Looking Ahead
After this road trip to Kentucky, Southeast will return home for a pair of matches at Houck Field House. SEMO hosts Belmont Friday, Oct. 19 at 6:30 p.m. in its annual Pink Up Match. The Redhawks will wear special edition pink breast cancer awareness uniforms and fans are encouraged to wear pink. Southeast then takes on Tennessee State Saturday, Oct. 20 at 5 p.m. Both matches will feature post-match autographs. 
 
Non-Conference Recap
The Redhawks concluded their non-conference slate with an 8-5 mark (2-2 home, 4-1 away, 2-2 neutral), which matches the 2013 season when the team finished 17-16 (8-9 nonconference). SEMO started the season 5-0 for the team's best start to a season in its NCAA Division I era (1991). Prior to this year, Southeast had never opened a season during its DI era with five consecutive sweeps (15 sets). Southeast captured the 2018 Troy Invitational Championship to start the season with three, three-set sweeps over Southern, Southeastern Louisiana and Troy.
 
The Redhawks picked up a Tuesday night win at Evansville and beat Louisiana Monroe in their opening Redhawks Invitational match before losses to Radford and Northwestern State. Southeast then defeated regional rival Southern Illinois before dropping matches to Arkansas State, Providence and Missouri-Kansas City at the Kangaroo Classic.
 
SEMO ended non-conference play with wins at WIU and NIU last week. 
 
2017 OVC Recap
Southeast posted a 6-10 record in the OVC in 2018 to secure its first tournament berth since 2015 and 24th appearance in program history. As the eighth seed, the Redhawks met #1 seed Austin Peay in the first round in Clarksville, Tennessee. The Governors took the match, 3-0, before claiming the conference title in 2017. 
 
O Captains! My Captains!
Southeast Head Coach Julie Yankus announced on Aug. 20, Haley Bilbruck, Madeline Grimm and Claire Ochs were selected as team captains for the 2018 season. The trio were chosen to the leadership positions by their teammates.
 
Roster Breakdown
The Redhawks squad includes 16 student-athletes and features eight upperclassmen (four seniors and four juniors). Southeast returns 10 players from the 2017 Ohio Valley Conference Tournament Team and only lost five letter winners. The 2018 squad features six newcomers including five freshmen and one transfer (sophomore).  
 
Despite losing All-OVC picks in Nzingha Clarke and Krissa Gearring, offensively the Redhawks return Mikayla Kuhlmann (205 kills, 2.38 kills/set), Haley Bilbruck (166 kills, 1.42 kills/set), Madara Bajare (130 kills) and Krista Berns (116 kills) who ranked third, fourth, fifth and sixth for winners in 2017. 
 
Keegan Fornoff returns at setter for her senior season and dished out 530 assists in 2017. Fornoff currently ranks fourth overall in SEMO program history (25-point rally scoring, 2008-present) with 1059 career assists. Freshman Claire Ochs joins Fornoff at the setter position.
 
Defensively, Ally Dion returns at the libero/defensive specialist position after she led the team in 2017 with 340 digs (3.33) as a freshman. Emily Boggetto is another returner at defensive specialist and was fourth on SEMO with 148 digs (2.96 digs/set) in 2017.
 
Oh, Hi Carly!
Carly Thomas joins the Redhawks in 2018 as an assistant coach after spending a year at Missouri State. Thomas coaches the setters and is responsible for travel, film exchange, home match management and academic development among other duties. Thomas was a standout player at Missouri State from 2010-13, starting in 107 of her 124 career matches at setter. She earned First-Team All-Missouri Valley Conference honors each of her final three seasons. An AVCA honorable mention All-American in 2013, Thomas ranked second in MSU history with 4,708 career assists and 12th with 1,201 digs, while adding 498 kills on a .257 hitting percentage. She added 177 blocks and four triple-doubles during her career as well.
 
Thomas most recently coached at her alma mater, assisting the MSU Beach Volleyball program during its inaugural season. Prior to that, she spent three years as an assistant coach at Ozark High School, earning Large Class Assistant Coach of the Year honors from the Missouri High School Volleyball Coaches Association in 2016. Thomas also spent the last four years coaching club volleyball for Springfield Juniors, leading her team to a berth in the USA Junior National Championships. 
 
OVC Preseason Poll
SEMO was chosen to finish ninth in the 2018 Ohio Valley Conference Volleyball Predicted Order of Finish, the league announced Aug. 14. The Redhawks received 95 points in the poll voted on by OVC coaches and sports information directors. Murray State was picked to finish first with 230 points and 10 first-place votes. 2017 OVC Champion Austin Peay earned 14 first-place votes and totaled 227 points for second. Rounding out the poll are SIUE (193), Eastern Kentucky (175), Belmont (152), Morehead State (129), Jacksonville State (125), Eastern Illinois (112), Southeast Missouri (95), Tennessee State (58), UT Martin (56), Tennessee Tech (32).
 
Redhawks Crushing it in the Classroom 
Southeast racked up multiple academic awards in the offseason. The Redhawks earned a NCAA Public Recognition Award based on their most recent multiyear Academic Progress Rates for the third-straight season. SEMO was also awarded their 11th American Volleyball Coaches Association AVCA Team Academic Award for the 2017-2018 season after registering a 3.30 cumulative GPA.
 
Maggie Adams, Madara Bajare, Krista Berns, Haley Bilbruck, Keegan Fornoff, Marie Less and Jessica McElderry were each listed on the OVC's Commissioner's Honor Roll for the 2017-18 academic year after they achieved at least a 3.25 grade point average. Less also earned her second straight OVC Medal of Honor after she posted a perfect 4.0 grade point average during the 2017-18 academic year.