Southeast Missouri (14-11, 6-6)
vs. SIUE (8-16, 7-5)
Match Information
Date: Friday, Nov. 2, 2018
First Serve: 6:30 p.m., CT
Location: Cape Girardeau, Mo.  
Venue: Houck Field House
Series: SIUE leads all-time series 11-7, 1-0 in 2018
Video: OVC Digital Network
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
 
vs. Eastern Illinois (9-18, 4-8) 
Match Information
Date: Saturday, Nov. 3, 2018
First Serve: 5 p.m., CT
Location: Cape Girardeau, Mo.  
Venue: Houck Field House
Series: Southeast leads all-time series 34-21-1, 1-0 in 2018
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
 
Complete Match Notes: Southeast Missouri (PDF)
 
Senior Day Saturday Highlights Southeast's Final Two Home Matches Against SIUE and EIU
Southeast Missouri women's volleyball (14-11, 6-6) hosts SIUE and Eastern Illinois Friday and Saturday to complete its 2018 home schedule. SEMO faces SIUE on Friday at 6:30 p.m. at Houck Field House and then takes on EIU Saturday at 5 p.m. on Senior Day.

Promotions
Friday, Nov. 2 
            • Post match autographs. 
Saturday, Nov. 3 – Senior Day
            • Seniors Madara Bajare, Haley Bilbruck, Keegan Fornoff and Madeline Grimm will be recognized for their Redhawk careers prior to the match. 
            • Free admission with SEMO Football Ticket (Game at 1 p.m. at Houck Field).
            • Post match autographs.

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
SIUE leads the all-time series with SEMO, 11-7, and the Cougars won the first matchup in 2018, 3-1, on Sept. 29 in Edwardsville, Illinois. Haley Bilbruck led the Redhawks with 12 kills on a .429 hitting clip and 15 digs. Laney Malloy chipped in 10 kills with 11 digs and Annie Wehrheim had nine kills. Claire Ochs dished out 39 assists in the match and had 11 digs. Ally Dion added 15 digs.
 
The Redhawks last beat SIUE on Halloween in 2015 at Houck Field House. Krissa Gearring finished the match with 16 kills, followed by Madalyn Werths with 10.
 
Southeast leads the all-time series with EIU, 34-21-1, and fought past the Panthers, 3-2, in the lone 2018 meeting on Sept. 28 at Charleston, Illinois. Laney Malloy, Haley Bilbruck and Claire Ochs each registered double-double performances. Malloy led the Redhawks with 22 kills and a career best 26 digs. Ochs matched a career high of 57 assists and had 21 digs and four kills.
 
Scouting the Opponents
SIUE
The Cougars defeated Eastern Illinois and Tennessee State last week. Rachel McDonald recorded 30 kills versus EIU, the most by an OVC player this season. It was also the second-most by an SIUE player in program history. She also had 13 kills versus TSU. Jordyn Klein posted a career-high 29 digs versus EIU and followed that with 22 against Tennessee State. Junior Sami Knight dished out a season-high 37 assists in the match with Eastern Illinois and followed that with 27 versus Tennessee State. Hope Everett recorded 34 kills and a .391 hitting percentage over the two wins. She had 22 kills and a .463 attack percentage versus EIU. SIUE will face UT Martin on Saturday after Friday's match at SEMO. 
 
Eastern Illinois 
Eastern Illinois fell to SIUE and Belmont last week. Taylor Smith recorded a pair of triple-doubles last week. Against SIUE, Smith had 12 kills, 22 assists and 23 digs. She followed that up with 11 kills, 16 assists and 11 digs versus Belmont. Danielle Allen recorded 16 kills, two assists, 12 digs and six blocks over the two matches. She had a season-high 10 kills versus the Cougars. Eastern Illinois will travel to UT Martin on Friday before taking on SEMO Saturday.
 
Last Weekend Recap
Southeast Missouri fell to Murray State and Austin Peay last week. Haley Bilbruck recorded 28 kills last week, including a career-best 18 at Murray State. Krista Berns totaled eight blocks to go with eight kills over the two matches. Annie Wehrheim led the team with 10 kills versus Austin Peay. She finished with 18 on the week. 
 
Redhawks Leading the Conference
Laney Malloy ranks second in the OVC with 942 total attacks this season. She is also fourth in the conference for attacks per set with 9.92.
 
Maggie Adams is fifth in the league with 0.93 blocks per set. 
 
Claire Ochs is third in the conference with 0.33 service aces per set. She is also fourth in the OVC with 10.02 assists per set and 31 total service aces. Ochs also ranks fifth with 952 total assists.
 
1,000 Assists Here We Come
Freshman setter Claire Ochs has tallied 952 total assists in 2018 and is 48 away from the 1,000 mark in her inaugural collegiate campaign. 
 
Malloy Approaching 300 Kills
Sophomore outside hitter Laney Malloy needs just six kills to eclipse 300 kills in her first season as a Redhawk. 
 
Da Ally D Show
With 31 digs this past weekend, sophomore libero Ally Dion has now registered a career best of 345 in a season. Dion recorded 339 digs as a freshman in 2017.  
 
14 Overall Wins in 2018
With the victory on Friday, Oct. 19 over Belmont, 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 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 at 6 p.m. 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.