Southeast Missouri (14-9, 6-4)
vs. Murray State (13-9, 7-3)
Match Information
Date: Friday, Oct. 26, 2018
First Serve: 7 p.m., CT
Location: Murray, Ky. 
Venue: Racer Arena
Series: Southeast leads all-time series 52-31, 1-0 in 2018
Video: OVC Digital Network
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
 
vs. Austin Peay (20-3, 9-1)
Match Information
Date: Saturday, Oct. 27, 2018
First Serve: 1 p.m., CT
Location: Clarksville, Tenn. 
Venue: Winfield Dunn Center
Series: Southeast leads all-time series 35-31, 0-1 in 2018
Video: OVC Digital Network
Live Stats: StatBroadcast  

Complete Match Notes: Southeast Missouri (PDF)
 
Redhawks Face Murray State and Austin Peay for Second Time in 2018 this Weekend 
Southeast Missouri women's volleyball (14-9, 6-4) hits the road to face Murray State (13-9, 7-3) and Austin Peay (20-3, 9-1) for the second time in 2018. SEMO faces MSU Friday at 7 p.m. at Racer Arena in Murray, Kentucky, before meeting the Ohio Valley Conference leading Governors Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Winfield Dunn Center.
 
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 Austin Peay, 35-31, but fell to the Governors at Houck Field House, 0-3, on Sept. 21, 2018. SEMO also dropped all three matchups during the 2017 season. Laney Malloy and Haley Bilbruck led the Redhawks offense with 11 kills apiece and Mikayla Kuhlmann added eight in the OVC opener.
 
The Redhawks last beat APSU on Sept. 26, 2015 (3-1) at home. Krissa Gearring (12), Nzingha Clarke (11), Marie Less (10) and Madalyn Werths (10) each had double-digit kills. Gearring and Less each had double-doubles, chipping in 15 digs and 12 respectively. Keegan Fornoff recorded 31 assists. 

SEMO also tops the all-time series against Murray State, 52-31, and outlasted the Racers, 3-2, on Sept. 22, 2018 at Houck Field House for the first Redhawk win over MSU since 2013. The win also marked the 100th career win for head coach Julie Yankus. 
 
Malloy led the offense with 18 kills in the match, including five in the fifth set on a .625 hitting clip. She also had 17 digs. Haley Bilbruck was second on the team with 11 kills and six total blocks. Krista Berns and Madara Bajare each chipped in nine kills. Claire Ochs recorded 55 assists and 16 digs for her eighth career double-double.
 
Scouting the Opponents
Murray State
Murray State beat Tennessee Tech and Jacksonville State to extend it winning streak to seven straight matches this past week. Rachel Giustino recorded her 1,000th career kill against JSU last week. Dacia Brown led the Racers with 34 kills while hitting .370 last week. She had a career-best 20 kills versus JSU and earned OVC Offensive Player of the Week. Becca Fernandez recorded 19 digs versus JSU and followed that with 17 against Tennessee Tech. Sophomore Ashley McBee dished out 87 assists and helped Murray State hit .309 as a team. She also had 23 digs and eight blocks last week to nab OVC Setter of the Week.
 
Austin Peay
Austin Peay defeated Western Kentucky, Jacksonville State and Tennessee Tech last week. The Govs 20 wins in 23 games is the fastest start to a season in program history. 
 
Kristen Stucker recorded her 1,000 career dig against WKU and became only the fifth Govs setter to record both 1,000 assists and 1,000 digs in their career. Logan Carger posted double-digit kills in all three wins last week. She totaled 35 for the week to go with 11 blocks. Junior Ginny Gerig recorded 49 digs, nine service aces and seven assists over the three matches. She had a 24-dig outing versus Tennessee Tech. Caroline Waite led the Govs from an 0-2 deficit to a five set win over Tennessee Tech. She dished 27 assists and helped APSU hit .337 the rest of the match. The Govs have recorded double-digit blocks in each of their last five matches. Austin Peay will host UT Martin on Friday before Saturday's match with SEMO. 
 
Last Weekend Recap
Southeast split a pair of home matches this past weekend. The Redhawks swept Belmont on Friday (Oct. 19) before falling to Tennessee State Saturday (Oct. 20), 0-3. 
 
On Pink Up Night, Claire Ochs dished out 25 assists and chipped in 12 digs to lead SEMO past Belmont. Haley Bilbruck paced the SEMO offense with eight kills and compiled a team best 12 digs. Krista Berns added six kills and four digs.
 
On Saturday, Ochs extended her double-double streak to 12 matches with a 21 assist and 12 dig outing as SEMO dropped a 0-3 decision to TSU. Annie Wehrheim paced SEMO with six kills and Mikayla Kuhlmann had five. Madara Bajare and Maggie Adams each had three. Ally Dion registered 10 digs while Laney Malloy added seven and Bilbruck had six.

Redhawks Leading the Conference
Maggie Adams leads the conference with 86 total blocks. She is also fourth in the OVC with 0.98 blocks per set. 
 
Claire Ochs is fourth in the league with 887 total assists, 10.08 assists per set and 28 service aces. 
 
Laney Malloy ranks second in the OVC with 878 total attacks this season. She is also fourth in the conference for both attacks per set (9.98) and points (322.5). Her 283 total kills this campaign put her fifth in the league. 
  
14 Overall Wins in 2018
With the victory on Friday (Oct. 19), Southeast has now tallied their highest win total (14) in the past four seasons. It also matched Southeast's OVC win total in 2017 of six.
 
Looking Ahead
After this weekend, Southeast returns home for its final regular season homestand of 2018. The Redhawks host SIUE on Friday, Nov. 2 at 6:30 p.m. at Houck Field House and then take on Eastern Illinois Saturday (Nov. 3) at 5 p.m. on Senior Day. 
 
SEMO then wraps up its OVC slate on the road with a pair of matches. The Redhawks travel to Martin, Tennessee, for a mid-week matchup against UT Martin on Tuesday, Nov. 6. In the regular season finale, Southeast treks to Jacksonville, Alabama, for a 2 p.m. meeting with Jacksonville State on Saturday, Nov. 10. 
 
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 matched the 2013 season when the team finished 17-16 (8-9 non-conference). 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 on Sept. 11 and 12. 
 
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.

2017 OVC Recap
Southeast posted a 6-10 record in the OVC in 2017 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 last season. 
 
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.