#6 Southeast Missouri (16-13, 8-8)
vs. #3 Morehead State (20-9, 11-5) 
Match Information
Date: Thursday, Nov. 15, 2018
First Serve: 11 a.m.
Location: Clarksville, Tenn.
Venue: Winfield Dunn Center
Series: Southeast leads all-time series 27-22, 0-1 in 2018
 
Media Information
Video: ESPN3
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
 
Complete Match Notes: Southeast Missouri (PDF)
 
OVC Championship Bound Redhawks
#6 Southeast Missouri women's volleyball (16-13, 8-8) will take on No. 3 seed Morehead State (20-9, 11-5) in the opening round of the 2018 Ohio Valley Conference Volleyball Championship Thursday at 11 a.m. at the Winfield Dunn Center in Clarksville, Tennessee, at top seed Austin Peay. 
 
Follow the Redhawks
• Live stats will be available for Thursday's match and all OVC Championship matches this weekend. The live stats link can be found on the volleyball schedule on GoSoutheast.com.
• Thursday's match and all OVC Championship matches this weekend will also be streamed live on ESPN3 and ESPN+
• @SEMOvb, the official Twitter page of the Redhawks volleyball team, will feature live in-game updates all season long.
 
OVC Championship Tournament History
Southeast is 27-19 at the OVC Championship Tournament dating back to 1991 and 2-1 as a No. 6 seed since 1998 on. Versus Morehead State, SEMO is 3-3 at the OVC Championship Tournament. The Redhawks are 1-2 in OVC Championship matches held in Clarksville, Tennessee (1992 and 2017). 
 
The Redhawks last won the OVC Championship in 2000, which capped their three-peat of OVC titles from 1998 to 2000. Southeast has also won in 1994 and 1996.
 
Series History
SEMO leads the all-time series with Morehead State, 27-22. The Eagles won the lone meeting in 2018, 3-1 (25-21, 18-25, 21-25, 13-25), on Oct. 13 at Wetherby Gym in Morehead, Kentucky. 
 
Annie Wehrheim and Laney Malloy each tallied a team high 10 kills and Haley Bilbruck added nine. Claire Ochs amassed 30 assists and 11 digs for her 10th straight double-double (13th of her career).
 
The Redhawks last beat the Eagles, 3-0, on Pink Up Night on Oct. 20, 2017. 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. 
 
Scouting the Opponent
Morehead State (20-9, 11-5) defeated Tennessee State and Belmont last week to earn the third seed in the OVC Volleyball Championship. Olivia Lohmeier led the team with 34 kills and a .377 hitting percentage last week to earn OVC Offensive Player of the Week. She had 18 kills versus Tennessee State and followed that up with 16 against Belmont. Jessie Wachtman led the team with nine blocks over the two wins. She also had 20 kills and seven blocks. Chandler Clark recorded 79 assists to help the Eagles hit .238. She had 48 assists versus TSU and had 31 against Belmont. Allison Whitten recorded 26 digs last week. 
 
Redhawks Against the Rest of the Field in 2018
 
#1 Austin Peay – 0-2
The Governors took both meetings in 2018, 3-0. APSU won in Cape Girardeau on Sept. 21 and then captured the regular-season series with a win in Clarksville, Tennessee. 
 
#2 Murray State – 1-1
Southeast and Murray State split the regular-season series, 1-1, in 2018. Southeast outlasted the Racers, 3-2, on Sept. 22 at Houck Field House and then dropped a 1-3 decision on Oct. 26 in Murray, Kentucky. 
 
#3 Morehead State – 0-1
The Eagles won the lone meeting in 2018, 3-1 (25-21, 18-25, 21-25, 13-25), on Oct. 13 at Wetherby Gym in Morehead, Kentucky.
 
#4 Jacksonville State – 0-1
The Gamecocks beat SEMO, 3-0, in the regular-season finale on Nov. 10, 2018. 
 
#5 SIUE– 1-1
Southeast and SIUE each won matchups in their respective buildings this season. The Redhawks fell to the Cougars, 1-3, on Sept. 29 in Edwardsville, Illinois, and then were the victor in a 3-1 decision on Nov. 2 at Houck Field House.
 
#7 UT Martin – 1-1
SEMO and UTM split the two contests in 2018, 1-1. The Redhawks beat the Skyhawks, 3-1, in a mid-week match at Houck Field House on Oct. 2 and UT Martin swept Southeast on Nov. 6 in Martin, Tennessee. 
 
#8 Tennessee State– 0-1
The Tigers claimed the only meeting in 2018, 3-0, on Oct. 20 at Houck Field House. 
 
Regular-Season Finale Recap
Southeast Missouri fell at UT Martin and Jacksonville State last week. 
 
Haley Bilbruck led the team with nine kills and seven digs in the regular-season finale Saturday in Jacksonville State. Mikayla Kuhlmann was second on the team with eight kills. Claire Ochs passed out 24 assists in the match. Ally Dion chipped in six digs.
 
Kuhlmann led the Redhawks attack with 11 kills on a .296 hitting clip at UTM. Kendall Washington chipped in seven on a .313 hitting percentage. Ochs had 26 assists in the match and also led Southeast defensively with 18 digs for her 18th career double-double outing.
 
Redhawks Leading the Conference 
Claire Ochs is fourth in the OVC with 9.97 assists per set and 33 services aces. Her 1,087 total assists in 2018 ranks fifth in the league.
 
Ally Dion is just behind Ochs with 32 service aces in 2018 for fifth in the conference.
 
Ochs Breaker
Claire Ochs dished out 1,087 assists in 2018 and now ranks fourth all-time in SEMO history for both career assists and single-season assists during the Redhawks 25-point rally-scoring era from 2008 to the present.
 
Keegan Fornoff is fifth overall in career assists during Southeast's 25-point rally-scoring era from 2008 to the present with 1,070 assists. 
 
16 Overall Wins in 2018
With 16 victories, Southeast has now tallied its highest win total (16) in the past four seasons. The Redhawks have also totaled their best conference win total of eight in the past four seasons. The Redhawks finished 17-16, 9-7 OVC in 2013, which is the highest overall win total and conference win total in the past five seasons.
 
Looking Ahead
If Southeast wins Thursday, they would face the winner of #2 Murray State and #7 UT Martin Friday at 2:30 p.m. in the OVC Volleyball Championship Semifinals. 
 
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.