Redhawks Invitational
Location: Cape Girardeau, Mo. 
Venues: Houck Field House (Fri.) and Saxony Lutheran High School (Sat.)
Tournament Homepage
 
Friday, Aug. 31, 2018
Match Information
Southeast Missouri (4-0)
vs. Louisiana Monroe (2-1)
First Serve: 12:30 p.m., CT
Series: First Meeting in Program History
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
 
vs. Radford (3-0)
Match Information
First Serve: 7 p.m., CT
Series: Radford leads the all-time series 1-0
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
 
Saturday, Sept. 1, 2018
vs. Northwestern State (1-2)
Match Information
First Serve: 2 p.m., CT
Series: Southeast and Northwestern State are tied in the all-time series 1-1
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
 
Complete Match Notes: Southeast Missouri (PDF)
 
Redhawks Invitational Opens Home Slate 
Southeast Missouri women's volleyball (4-0) hosts the Redhawks Invitational presented by Drury Hotels for the team's home opener Friday and Saturday at Houck Field House and Saxony Lutheran High School (Saturday), 2004 Saxony Drive 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.
 
The first 100 students in attendance for Friday's 12:30 p.m. match with Louisiana Monroe will receive free slices of Imo's Pizza. 
 
Follow the Redhawks
• Stats will be available for Friday and Saturday's matches on GoSoutheast.com.
• @SEMOvb, the official Twitter page of Redhawks volleyball, will feature live in-game updates all season long.
 
Redhawks Invitational History
SEMO opens their home schedule with the fourth annual Redhawks Invitational presented by Drury Hotels. The Redhawks kicked off both the 2015 and 2016 campaigns with the Redhawks Invitational. In 2017, Southeast won the two-day tournament at the Show Me Center with 3-0 wins over Morgan State and Arkansas – Pine Bluff on Friday, Sept. 1, 2017 and a 3-2 victory against Evansville on Saturday, Sept. 2, 2017. Krissa Gearring was named the Redhawks Invitational Tournament MVP and Nzingha Clarke and Ally Dion were selected to the all-tournament team.
 
Series History
Southeast starts the tournament with its first-ever meeting in program history against Louisiana Monroe Friday at 12:30 p.m. 
 
Radford leads the all-time series 1-0 after a 3-0 win over SEMO on Sept. 3, 2016 in the final match of the UAB/Samford Challenge. Krissa Gearring paced Southeast with nine kills and added seven digs.  
 
The Redhawks and Northwestern State are 1-1 in their all-time series. Southeast beat the Demons, 3-1, in their final game at the Razorback Invitational on Sept. 12, 2015. Nzingha Clarke tallied a team high 11 kills and Gearring and Madalyn Werths each added nine kills. Northwestern State took the most recent meeting, 3-1, at the UAB/Samford Challenge on Sept. 2, 2016. Gearring finished the contest with 21 kills and 14 digs. Clarke also earned double-digit kills (11) while tacking on four total blocks. Katarina Rotta tallied 30 assists while Jade Mortimer recorded a career best 29 digs in the match.
 
Scouting the Opponents
Warhawks
Louisiana Monroe currently owns a 2-1 overall record and recently won back-to-back matches to close out the 2018 StarkVegas Classic. ULM beat tournament host, Mississippi State (1-3), of the Southeastern Conference, 3-1, and then Mississippi Valley State (0-4), 3-0, on Saturday. Taylor Wood was selected to the StarkVegas All-Tournament Team after she posted a team high 16 blocks over the weekend. Kate Blasingame leads the Warhawks with 27 kills and has added 34 digs. Katie McKay paces ULM defensively with 42 digs. 
 
Highlanders
Radford is currently undefeated with a 3-0 mark after capturing the Baltimore Bash tournament this past weekend with victories over Towson (3-2 Win), Loyola (MD.) (3-1 Win) and Siena (3-0 Win). Mallory McKnight (26 kills) earned MVP and Stephanie Neast (27 kills and 16 digs) and Grace Green (53 digs) were named to the all-tournament team. Haley Kleespies leads the team with 92 assists. 
 
Demons
Northwestern State is 1-2 in 2018 after their first win on Tuesday over Jackson State, 3-0. The Demons dropped both of their matches at the Red Raider Classic, 0-3, to Texas Tech of the Big 12 and Rice this past weekend. Reagan Rogers leads the Demons with 31 kills and Channing Burleson paces the team defensively with 52 digs.
 
Midweek Win at Evansville
The Redhawks recorded their fourth straight win of 2018 and extended its unbeaten set streak to 12 with a 3-0 victory (25-19, 25-22, 25-18) over Evansville (3-1) on Tuesday. Mikayla Kuhlmann led Southeast with a team high 11 kills on a .348 hitting clip as SEMO picked up its first Tuesday night win of 2018. Southeast out blocked Evansville 12-5 as Maggie Adams tallied a career best nine blocks (one solo, eight assists). Haley Bilbruck chipped in four and Krista Berns added three.
 
Offensively, Madara Bajare was second on the team with six kills. Claire Ochs led the team with 24 assists and added five kills, two aces and six digs. Defensively, Laney Malloy led the Redhawks with 11 digs. Kendall Washington posted two kills, two blocks and a dig in her SEMO debut.
 
Best Start for SEMO in D1 Era 
With a 4-0 record to start 2018, Southeast has tallied its best start to a season in its NCAA Division I era (1991). Prior to this season, SEMO had never opened a season during its DI era with four consecutive sweeps. Southeast is 4-0 to start the season for the first time since 1986 when the team opened the campaign 5-0 and posted an overall record of 37-9. This is also the best start to a season under head coach Julie Yankus.
 
Approaching 100 Wins
With three wins this past weekend at the Troy Invitational and a win Tuesday at Evansville, Redhawks Head Coach Julie Yankus has now totaled 95 career wins in eight seasons at Southeast. Yankus picked up her 50th career victory on Nov. 9, 2013 against Austin Peay, 3-0.
 
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. 
 
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.
 
Maggie Adams leads the team with 19.0 total blocks (36th in NCAA Division I) and is 30th in NCAA DI with 1.58 blocks per set (second in OVC). Haley Bilbruck ranks 40th in the nation with 1.50 blocks per set (fourth in OVC) and 44th with 18.0 total blocks. Krista Berns is third on SEMO with 15.0 total blocks which puts her 90th in the country (sixth in OVC). 
 
Overall the team is eighth in NCAA DI with 3.42 blocks per set (first in OVC) and 12th with 41.0 total blocks (second in OVC).
 
First Double-Double of 2018
Claire Ochs earned the first double-double of 2018 in SEMO's second match on Friday, Aug. 24 against Southeastern Louisiana (SLU). Ochs totaled 31 assists with 12 digs for her first career double-double. 
 
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 beat the gray team coached by assistant coach and recruiting coordinator Bob Crank, 18-25, 25-15, 25-19, 25-19.
 
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, 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.
 
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).
 
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.