Southeast Missouri (16-12, 8-7) 
vs. Jacksonville State (16-13, 8-7) 
Match Information
Date: Saturday, Nov. 10, 2018
First Serve: 2:00 p.m., CT
Location: Jacksonville, Ala.   
Venue: Kennamer Gym
Series: Southeast leads all-time series 14-13
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
 
Complete Match Notes: Southeast Missouri (PDF)
 
Redhawks Face Jacksonville State in Regular-Season Finale Saturday
Southeast Missouri women's volleyball (16-12, 8-7) treks to Jacksonville, Alabama, Saturday for its regular-season finale against Jacksonville State (16-13, 8-7) at 2 p.m. at Kennamer Gym.
 
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
Southeast has a slight, 14-13, edge in its all-time series with Jacksonville State. The Redhawks captured the lone regular-season meeting in 2017, 3-0, on Sept. 23 at Houck Field House for SEMO's first conference win of the season. 
 
Krista Berns led the Southeast offense with nine kills on a .727 hitting percentage. Haley Bilbruck (.538), Nzingha Clarke and Krissa Gearring all added eight kills each and Madara Bajare (.429) and Mikayla Kuhlmann chipped in seven each.
 
Scouting the Gamecocks
Jacksonville State fell to Belmont, 2-3, before defeating Tennessee State, 3-1, last week. Dani Steele recorded a career-high 28 digs versus Belmont and had 19 against TSU. Lexie Libs dished out 96 assists over the two matches, including 51 in the match with the Bruins. 
 
Jacksonville State swept Tennessee Tech Wednesday, 25-18, 25-20, 25-23. Kaylie Milton, Lena Kindermann and Kaylee Frear each tallied 11 kills. Libs passed out 30 assists to go along with 15 digs in her double-double night. Milton also registered a double-double with 11 digs, followed by Addie Halverson and Steele with nine, and Ashley Clingan with eight.
 
UT Martin Mid-Week Match Recap
Southeast dropped an 0-3 decision to UT Martin Tuesday night at Skyhawk Fieldhouse in Martin, Tennessee. SEMO has now split its 2018 regular 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.

Ochs had 26 assists in the match and also led Southeast defensively with 18 digs for her 18th career double-double outing.
 
Wehrheim Earns Pair of OVC Weekly Accolades
Annie Wehrheim was named OVC Offensive Player and Newcomer of the Week, the league announced Monday afternoon. Wehrheim led the Redhawks offensively this past weekend with 40 total kills (5.00 kills/set) on a .260 hitting clip. She slammed 18 kills on Friday against SIUE including seven in the marathon fourth and final set. Wehrheim then followed that performance with 22 kills on Saturday versus EIU on a .340 hitting percentage. She also recorded five digs and two block assists in her career-best offensive weekend as a Redhawk. Wehrheim ranks seventh in the conference with 3.18 kills per set (191 kills). 
 
Last Weekend Recap
The Redhawks went 2-0 this past weekend with home wins over SIUE and Eastern Illinois in four sets. Annie Wehrheim tallied 40 kills (5.0 kills per set) to lead the offense including a 22-kill performance on a .340 attack percentage against Eastern Illinois Saturday. Claire Ochs divvied out 10.63 assists per set (85 assists) for a Southeast Missouri offense that hit .207 in the two matches. 
 
Maggie Adams led the Redhawks this past weekend defensively with 11 total blocks. She also chipped in three digs to complement her seven kills. Ally Dion posted a team high 28 digs.
 
On Senior Day Saturday, Keegan Fornoff dished out a season best seven kills with an ace. Madeline Grimm posted eight digs. Madara Bajare was second on the team with 13 kills (.393) and had a season best four blocks. Haley Bilbruck registered her sixth career double-double with 12 kills (.289) and 12 digs along with four blocks and two service aces. Elissa Moylan posted a personal-best outing of eight kills in her first career start as a Redhawk.
 
Redhawks Leading the Conference 
Claire Ochs is fourth in the conference with 1,063 total assists (10.03 assists per set). 

Ochs and Ally Dion are tied for fifth in the league with 32 service aces in 2018. 

Maggie Adams is fourth in the OVC with 100 total blocks and fifth with 0.95 blocks per set. 
 
1,000 Career Assists For Ochs
Claire Ochs tallied 85 assists this past weekend to surpass 1,000-career assists in her first collegiate season. She 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.
 
16 Overall Wins in 2018
With two victories this past weekend over SIUE and Eastern Illinois, 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. SEMO can match its overall win total and conference win total from 2013 with one more victory in 2018. The Redhawks finished 17-16, 9-7 in 2013 which is the highest overall win total and conference win total in the past five seasons.
 
Looking Ahead
Southeast will next compete at the 2018 OVC Volleyball Championship held November 15-19 at the site of the No. 1 seed. SEMO will find out their seed at the conclusion of Saturday's OVC matches. The Redhawks are currently tied for fifth with Jacksonville State. 
 
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.