CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Southeast Missouri women's volleyball (15-11, 7-6) clawed past SIUE (8-17, 7-6), 3-1 (25-15, 25-23, 22-25, 31-29), after a marathon fourth set in the penultimate home match of 2018 Friday evening at Houck Field House.
 
With the victory, Southeast has now matched its highest conference win total in the past four seasons (7-9 in 2014). The win also marked the first over SIUE since Halloween 2015 at Houck Field House.
 
SEMO and the Cougars have now split the regular season series in 2018, 1-1, with each team recording a win in their own building.
 
Annie Wehrheim led the Redhawks offense with 18 kills including seven in the fourth and final set. Mikayla Kuhlmann came off the bench in the third frame and totaled 10 kills on a .350 hitting clip, seven of which came in the last set.
 
Southeast jumped out to a 1-0 lead after a 25-15 opening set which featured a match-best team hitting percentage of .273. Madara Bajare tallied six of her nine kills in the set on a .556 attack percentage.
 
A 4-0 run by the Redhawks extended the margin to 20-10. Three straight SIUE errors then increased the lead to 23-12 as the Cougars came as close as 24-15 before Wehrheim slammed a kill to capture the set, 25-15.
 
The next three sets were highly competitive as three or fewer points settled them all.
 
Tied at 12-12 in the second set, SEMO benefited from a 6-0 run that featured four straight errors by the Cougars bookended by a kill from Wehrheim and a service ace from Laney Malloy to take a 17-12 advantage.
 
Three unanswered rally stoppers by Wehrheim, Bajare and Krista Berns then extended the lead to 22-15 before the Cougars came within a point on a 5-0 rally, 23-22, that included two kills and a solo block from Rachel McDonald.
 
Bajare would then connect on a kill before the Redhawks grew their lead in the match to 2-0 on a bad set by SIUE, 25-23.
 
The Cougars then answered with a 25-22 third set to cut the SEMO advantage in the match to 2-1 and force a fourth set. SIUE hit a team-best .179 in the third set while the Redhawks posted a team-hitting clip of .195.
 
Southeast then claimed the match on a wild fourth set that had 18 ties and 11 lead changes.

Three kills by Wehrheim in a 4-0 rally pushed the SEMO lead to 13-19 and prompted a Cougars timeout. Out of the timeout, SIUE then went on a 6-0 run to retake the lead, 15-13.
 
Back-to-back service aces from Ally Dion along with a huge block assist by Elissa Moylan and Haley Bilbruck punctuated a 5-0 run as the Redhawks reclaimed the advantage, 20-17.
 
The set would then be tied at 22-22 and 23-23 before the Cougars had set point, 24-23, which forced a Redhawks timeout.
 
Southeast came out of the timeout with a Wehrheim kill and took a one point lead, 25-24, on a SIUE error. Two kills from Hope Everett then tied the set at 25-25 and pushed the lead back in the Cougars favor, 26-25. 
 
SEMO and SIUE then would be deadlocked at 26-26, 27-27, 28-28 and 29-29 before the Redhawks gutted out the set. A bad Cougars set followed by a kill by Kuhlmann capped off the fourth set, 31-29.
 
Claire Ochs dished out 38 assists Friday and is now 10 away from 1,000 in her inaugural collegiate campaign.
 
Bilbruck led the defense with 14 kills.
 
Malloy was the libero in the match and accumulated 13 digs. Dion chipped in 11 and matched her career best of five service aces.
 
SEMO next hosts Eastern Illinois Saturday at 5 p.m. on Senior Day at Houck Field House.