Southeast Missouri (3-0)
vs. Evansville (3-0) 
Match Information
Date: Tuesday, Aug. 28
First Serve: 6 p.m., CT
Location: Evansville, Ind. 
Venue: Meeks Family Fieldhouse
Series: SEMO leads series 17-6
 
Media Information
Live Stats: SIDEARM
Video: ESPN+

Complete Match Notes: Southeast Missouri (PDF) 

Midweek Meeting with Evansville
Southeast Missouri women's volleyball (3-0) heads to Evansville, Indiana, for a midweek matchup with Evansville (3-0) Tuesday at 6 p.m., CT at the Meeks Family Fieldhouse.
 
Follow the Redhawks
• Stats will be available for Tuesday's match on GoSoutheast.com.
• @SEMOvb, the official Twitter page of Redhawks volleyball, will feature live in-game updates all season long.
 
Series History
Southeast leads the all-time series with Evansville, 17-6. SEMO last met the Purple Aces at the Redhawks Invitational on Sept. 2, 2017. In that meeting, the Redhawks beat Evansville, 3-2 (18-25, 25-22, 25-22, 22-25, 15-11), to win the Redhawks Invitational at the Show Me Center. After the match, Krissa Gearring was named the Redhawks Invitational Tournament MVP and Nzingha Clarke and Ally Dion were selected to the all-tournament team. Gearring led SEMO with 18 digs and 14 kills in the victory. Dion posted 14 digs in the match.
 
Scouting the Purple Aces
Evansville posted a perfect 3-0 record this past weekend at the Leatherneck Invitational hosted by Western Illinois in Macomb, Illinois. Rachel Tam was named the MVP while Kerra Cornist and Gabriela dos Santos earned all-tournament team accolades. The Purple Aces beat Tennessee Tech of the Ohio Valley Conference, 18-25, 25-23, 30-28, 23-25, 15-10, on Friday. In the second day of competition on Saturday, Evansville defeated Fairleigh Dickinson (0-3), 3-1 (25-17, 25-14, 17-25, 25-21), and then tournament host, WIU (1-2), 3-2 (24-26, 23-25, 27-25, 25-23, 15-11), on Saturday.
 
Tam currently leads Evansville offensively with 79 kills. Defensively, dos Santos paces the Purple Aces with 79 digs. Cecilia Thon posted a team high 82 assists over the past weekend.
 
Troy Invitational Champions
Southeast captured the 2018 Troy Invitational Championship over the past weekend with three, three-set sweeps. The Redhawks beat Southern, 25-16, 25-17, 25-17, and Southeastern Louisiana, 25-20, 25-18, 25-21, on Friday and then beat tournament host, Troy, 25-17, 25-19, 25-20. 
 
SEMO is 3-0 to start the season for the first time since 1995 when the team posted an overall record of 24-12.
 
Haley Bilbruck earned tournament MVP after she tallied 20 kills on a .326 hitting clip with 14 total blocks over the three matches. Newcomers Claire Ochs and Laney Malloy were also tabbed for the All-Tournament Team in their debut weekends with SEMO. Ochs totaled 85 assists (9.44 assists/set) with 22 digs and 11 kills. Malloy recorded 22 kills over the three matches with 19 digs, seven blocks and three aces.
 
Madara Bajare led the Redhawks offensively against Troy with a career best 13 kills on a .367 hitting percentage. She finished the weekend with a team high 27 kills. Ally Dion led the team defensively over the three matches with 26 digs and seven service aces.
 
Block Party
Southeast recorded a season-high 15 blocks against Troy on Saturday and out blocked the Trojans, 15-6. Krista Berns led the Redhawks with a career best nine block assists. Haley Bilbruck added six total blocks (two solo, four block assists) and Claire Ochs, Maggie Adams and Laney Malloy each had four.
 
Berns is second on the team with 12 total blocks this season and Adams has posted 10 thus far in the season.
 
First Double-Double of 2018
Claire Ochs earned the first double-double of 2018 in SEMO's second match on Friday against Southeastern Louisiana (SLU). Ochs totaled 31 assists with 12 digs for her first career double-double. 
 
Approaching 100 Wins
With three wins this past weekend at the Troy Invitational, Redhawks Head Coach Julie Yankus has now totaled 94 career wins in eight seasons at Southeast. Yankus picked up her 50th career victory on Nov. 9, 2013 against Austin Peay, 3-0. 
 
Redhawk Scrimmage Recap
Southeast competed in the Redhawk Scrimmage Aug. 18 at Houck Field House in preparation for the 2018 season. The red team led by assistant coach Carly Thomas edged the gray team coached by assistant coach and recruiting coordinator Bob Crank, 18-25, 25-15, 25-19, 25-19.
 
Claire Ochs, Emily Boggetto, Madara Bajare, Laney Malloy, Madeline Grimm and Colby Greene made up the red team. Crank's gray team consisted of Keegan Fornoff, Ally Dion, Mikayla Kuhlmann, Kendall Washington, Haley Bilbruck and Annie Wehrheim. Middle blockers Krista Berns, Maggie Adams and Elissa Moylan played on both teams during the scrimmage.
 
Missouri Baptist Exhibition Recap
The Redhawks edged Missouri Baptist, 3-0, in the program's second-ever exhibition match Aug. 13 at Houck Field House. Freshman setter Claire Ochs unofficially posted 26 assists and 13 digs. Offensively, Mikayla Kuhlmann led the team with 11 kills and Haley Bilbruck added seven kills. 
 
Southeast out blocked the Spartans in the match, 9-6. Newcomer Laney Malloy started the exhibition with five kills in the opening set. Libero Ally Dion led the team defensively with 14 digs.
 
O Captains! My Captains!
Southeast Head Coach Julie Yankus announced on Monday 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.
 
Redhawks Invitational Opens Home Slate 
Southeast hosts the Redhawks Invitational for the team's home opener Friday, Aug. 31 to Saturday, Sept. 1 at Houck Field House and Saxony Lutheran High School (Saturday) in Jackson, Missouri. SEMO welcomes Louisiana Monroe, Radford and Northwestern State to Cape Girardeau for the two-day tournament. The Redhawks face Louisiana Monroe in their first tournament match on Aug. 31 at 12:30 p.m. followed by a 7 p.m. contest against Radford. Southeast takes on Northwestern State at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 1 to finish the tournament.
 
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. She will split time with freshman Claire Ochs at the 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 the position and was fourth on SEMO with 148 digs (2.96 digs/set).
 
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.