MARTIN, Tenn. – Southeast Missouri women's volleyball (16-12, 8-7) dropped its mid-week road match to UT Martin (13-16, 6-9), 0-3 (18-25, 21-25, 24-26), Tuesday night at Skyhawk Fieldhouse.
 
Southeast has now split its 2018 series with the Skyhawks, 1-1, with each school victorious in their home arena.
 
Mikayla Kuhlmann led the Redhawks attack with 11 kills on a .296 hitting clip. Kendall Washington chipped in seven on a .313 hitting percentage.
 
In the opening set, Southeast and the Skyhawks were knotted at 5-5, 6-6, 7-7 and 8-8 early before UT Martin went on a 7-0 rally to pull away, 15-8.
 
Back-to-back kills from Haley Bilbruck chipped at the lead, 16-11. A Megan Fair kill would extend UTM's margin to 20-14.
 
A rally stopper from Claire Ochs along with block assists from Elissa Moylan and Bilbruck cut the advantage to three, 21-18, before four straight points by the Skyhawks claimed the set, 25-18.
 
In the second set, UT Martin hit the 10-point plateau first to prompt a SEMO timeout at 10-6. A service ace from Madeline Grimm would then cut the Skyhawks lead to one, 11-10.
 
Bilbruck and Adams would then each add kills before back-to-back kills from Hannah Phillips and Jamie Rys coupled with a Fair service ace made the score, 20-16 UTM.
 
Kuhlmann and Moylan would then combine for a block assist and Kuhlmann would knock a kill to cut the deficit to two, 22-20, and prompt a Skyhawks timeout.
 
Kuhlmann would add another kill for the final Redhawks points in the set. UT Martin then extended its advantage to 2-0 after consecutive kills from Gintare Mackeviciute and Fair to take the set 25-21.
 
The third and final set was highly competitive as SEMO and the Skyhawks would be deadlocked 10 times. Southeast registered a match-best .222 hitting percentage in the set.
 
Kills from Maggie Adams and Washington pushed the Redhawks to an early 9-7 advantage. Kuhlmann knocked a kill and Ally Dion placed a service ace to add to the margin, 11-9.
 
Ochs and Washington then both hit kills to extend the lead to 18-15 before a 4-0 rally by the Skyhawks switched the lead to UTM, 19-18.
 
SEMO then retook the lead after consecutive UT Martin errors before a 3-0 rally from the Skyhawks seesawed the advantage back to the home side, 22-20.
 
Rally stoppers from Madara Bajare and Kuhlmann then knotted the set at 23-23 and Kuhlmann would tie the set for the final time with another kill, 24-24.
 
Justine Walker then registered a kill and Fair added a service ace as the Skyhawks claimed the match with a 26-24 third set.
 
Ochs divvied 26 assists in the match and now ranks fourth all-time in SEMO history for career assists and fifth in single-season assists with 1,063 during the Redhawks 25-point rally-scoring era from 2008 to the present.
 
She also led SEMO defensively with 18 digs for her 18th career double-double outing.
 
Laney Malloy and Bilbruck each tallied nine digs.
 
Moylan led Southeast with a career best five blocks and Bilbruck had four.
 
The Redhawks next travel to Jacksonville, Alabama, for a 2 p.m. meeting with Jacksonville State on Saturday in the regular season finale.