RICHMOND, Ky. – Southeast Missouri women's volleyball (13-7, 5-2) registered its third straight victory with its first Ohio Valley Conference sweep of 2018 over Eastern Kentucky (3-17, 2-6), 3-0 (25-19, 25-19, 25-21), Friday night at Madison Central High School. 
 
Annie Wehrheim paced the offense with 18 kills and Claire Ochs dished out 35 assists as Southeast tallied a team-hitting clip of .318. Ochs added 11 digs defensively for her ninth straight double-double and 13th of her career.
 
Southeast opened the match with an 8-5 advantage after back-to-back kills from Laney Malloy and Haley Bilbruck highlighted a 3-0 rally. 
 
EKU evened the set early at 11-11 before rally stoppers from Ochs and Wehrheim brought the advantage back in Southeast's favor, 16-12, and prompted a Colonels timeout. 
 
Wehrheim notched another kill after the break and an Ally Dion service ace pushed the lead to set point, 24-18. EKU would add one more point as SEMO won the first frame, 25-19, on a Colonels service error. 
 
In the second set, the Redhawks jumped out to a 6-3 edge on pairs of kills from Malloy and Maggie Adams. A huge block from Ochs and Adams then extended the margin to 12-8 and kills from Wehrheim and Bilbruck made the score 15-9. 
 
A Malloy service ace bookended by kills from Adams and Wehrheim propelled the Redhawks to a 21-15 lead and Wehrheim recorded another kill to seal the set, 25-19. 
 
The Colonels didn't go down without a fight as the third set came down to the wire. After a kill from Malloy brought a tied scoreboard at 10-10, kills from Wehrheim and Berns gave the Redhawks a slight 14-13 edge.
 
The Colonels then evened the set back up at 14-14 on a Cassie Knutson kill. Malloy and Bilbruck each notched kills and Adams and Bilbruck teamed up for a block assist on a 3-0 run to shift the set to 17-14 for Southeast. 
 
EKU then knotted the score again on a service ace from Kennedy Wilson, 17-17, which concluded a 3-0 Colonels run. 
 
Two rally stoppers from Malloy coupled with an EKU error transferred the lead back to the Redhawks, 22-19. 
 
The Colonels came as close as a point, 21-22, but back-to-back kills from Wehrheim along with an attack error from EKU claimed the set, 25-21, to provide Southeast with the sweep. 
 
Bilbruck led the Redhawks defensively with 15 digs and had eight kills. Dion dug up 11 balls for second most on the team. 
 
Malloy tallied 11 kills on the evening. 
 
SEMO continues its road trip in Kentucky with a 1 p.m. meeting against Morehead State Saturday in Morehead, Kentucky. 
 
Southeast then returns 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.