Southeast Missouri (11-7, 3-2)
vs. Tennessee Tech (7-12, 1-4)
Match Information
Date: Saturday, Oct. 6, 2018
First Serve: 2 p.m., CT
Location: Cape Girardeau, Mo.  
Venue: Houck Field House
Series: Southeast leads all-time series 41-12
Video: OVC Digital Network
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
 
Complete Match Notes: Southeast Missouri (PDF)
 
Southeast Faces Tennessee Tech Saturday in Matinee Match at Houck Field House 
Southeast Missouri women's volleyball (11-7, 3-2) meets Tennessee Tech (7-12, 1-4) Saturday in a matinee matchup at 2 p.m. at Houck Field House.  
 
Promotions
• Camper Reunion Match
-All campers receive free admission.  
• Post match autographs
 
Follow the Redhawks
• Stats will be available for Southeast's match on Saturday at GoSoutheast.com.
• @SEMOvb, the official Twitter page of Redhawks volleyball, will feature live in-game updates all season long.
 
Series History
The Redhawks lead the all-time series with Tennessee Tech, 41-12. Southeast was victorious in the lone 2017 matchup, 3-0 (25-21, 25-13, 28-26), on Oct. 27 in Cookeville, Tennessee. 
 
Krissa Gearring led the Redhawks with a 13-kill and 11-dig double-double performance. Nzingha Clarke added nine kills on a match-high hitting clip of .571. Allie Henkelman dished out 25 assists. Keegan Fornoff eclipsed 1,000 assists in her Redhawks career with 11 against TTU. Ally Dion paced SEMO defensively with 16 digs. Henkelman recorded 12 digs for her 10th double-double in 2017. Marie Less tied her season-high of 10 digs.
 
Scouting the Opponent
TTU enters the match with a 7-12 overall record and a 1-4 mark in conference. The Golden Eagles dropped a 3-1 decision at Jacksonville State on Tuesday and split their pair of matches last week with Belmont (3-2 Win) and Tennessee State (1-3 Loss).
 
Ali Verzani led Tennessee Tech with 10 kills at JSU and leads the Golden Eagles with 195 kills in 2018. Rachel Thomas is second on the team with 192 and Erica Grant has chipped in 136. TTU out blocked Jacksonville State, 17-7, and are led by Thomas who has 60. Kristen Brugere leads the defense with 321 digs and Susie Jeziorowski has dished out 711 assists. 
 
TTU was pegged to finish 12th in the league. 
 
UT Martin Tuesday Night Recap 
SEMO ousted UT Martin, 3-1 (25-23, 25-23, 14-25, 25-18), Tuesday 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.
 
11 Overall Wins in 2018
With Tuesday's victory over UTM, Southeast has now matched its overall win total of 11 from the 2014 and 2017 seasons. 
 
Double-Doubles
Laney Malloy, Haley Bilbruck and Claire Ochs each recorded double-doubles in the win over UT Martin on Tuesday. 
 
Ochs leads the team with 11 in 2018 followed by Malloy who has recorded the feat 10 times. Both Ochs and Malloy have registered double-double performances in seven straight matches. 
 
Bilbruck notched her third consecutive career double-double on Tuesday against UTM which matched a personal-best mark of 15 kills and 15 digs.
 
First OVC Road Trip Recap
The Redhawks split their first OVC road trip this past weekend. Southeast outlasted Eastern Illinois, 3-2, Friday in Charleston, Illinois before a 1-3 loss at SIUE Saturday in Edwardsville, Illinois. 
 
Laney Malloy, Haley Bilbruck and Claire Ochs each registered double-double performances Friday at EIU. Malloy led the Redhawks with 22 kills and a career best 26 digs for her first 20 plus kill and 20 plus dig performance. Ochs matched a career high of 57 assists and had 21 digs and four kills. Bilbruck posted her first career double-double, tallying 11 kills and a personal best 15 digs. Ally Dion added a season high of 24 digs and Madeline Grimm had 15.
 
On Saturday, Haley Bilbruck paced the Redhawks with 12 kills on a .429 hitting percentage and 15 digs for her second straight double-double. Malloy chipped in 10 kills with 11 digs and Wehrheim had nine kills. Ochs dished out 39 assists in the match and had 11 digs. Ally Dion added 15 digs.
 
Redhawks Leading the Conference
Maggie Adams leads the OVC with 69 total blocks and is third with 0.99 blocks per set. 
 
Laney Malloy is first in the league for points (269.5), total attacks (716) and total kills (239). Malloy is also third with 10.23 attacks per set and fourth with 3.41 kills per set. 
 
Claire Ochs ranks second in the OVC with 716 total assists and is 13th in the country. She is third in the conference with 24 service aces and fourth in both aces per set (0.34) and assists per set (10.23). 
 
Ally Dion is fifth with 20 service aces.
 
Looking Ahead
The Redhawks next hit the road for back-to-back matches at Eastern Kentucky followed by Morehead State Friday, Oct. 12 and Saturday, Oct. 13.
 
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.