CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo, - Southeast Missouri women's volleyball (5-1) split its pair of Redhawks Invitational matches Friday at Houck Field House.
 
Southeast extended its unbeaten set streak to 15 with a 3-0 (25-18, 25-23, 25-18) win over Louisiana Monroe (2-3) before falling to Radford (4-1) in the nightcap, 0-3 (23-25, 17-25, 11-25).
 
The 5-1 start to the 2018 season matches the 1986 team's start when SEMO finished 37-9.
 
Madara Bajare led the Redhawks over the two matches with 27 total kills. She hit a personal best 15 kills on a career-best hitting percentage of .440 against ULM and then added 12 in the evening match with Radford on a .423 hitting clip.
 
Claire Ochs finished the day with 63 total assists and dished out a career best 40 assists against ULM.
 
SEMO 3, Louisiana Monroe 0
 
Laney Malloy paced the Redhawks offensively with a career high 16 kill performance with six digs on a .367 hitting clip. Haley Bilbruck chipped in a season best mark of nine kills.
 
Defensively, Bilbruck recorded a career best nine digs to lead the Redhawks.
 
Southeast jumped out to a 7-1 lead in the first set courtesy of three kills, an ace and a block assist by Bajare. Bajare finished the match with a personal best two service aces.
 
A Bilbruck kill and a Bilbruck and Berns block assist extended SEMO's lead to 17-10 before a Catherine Griffith kill cut the Redhawks lead to 23-18. Back-to-back kills from Maggie Adams and Malloy closed out the set, 25-18.
 
In the second set, with a 10-9 edge Southeast called a timeout before mounting a three-point run to extend their lead to 21-18 with two kills from Malloy and a winner from Bajare.
 
The Warhawks evened the set at 23-23 on a block assist from Taylor Wood and Lauren Appleman before back-to-back ULM errors.
 
Trailing in the third set, 8-9, Southeast mounted a 7-1 rally to take a 15-10 lead in the set. Bilbruck added consecutive aces to bring the Redhawks advantage to 18-11.
 
Malloy, Ochs and Bajare would each record rally killers to extend SEMO's lead to 21-14. Bilbruck added two more kills as the Redhawks claimed the set, 25-18, to win the match.
 
Radford 3, SEMO 0
 
In the evening match, Southeast jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first set and grew its lead to 10-5 on a Bilbruck kill. An Ochs kill extended the lead to 19-17 before the Highlanders evened the set at 20-20 on a Kylie Tuxford kill.
 
SEMO took the lead back on a Radford attack error before the Highlanders pulled ahead 24-22 and took the set, 25-23.
 
In the second set, it was Radford who started with the early 10-5 lead. A Malloy kill cut SEMO's deficit to less then half, 8-14.
 
Malloy then added a kill and Emily Boggetto landed an ace to make the score line 13-18 before a 4-0 Radford run put the set at 22-13.
 
Southeast continued to fight as a Mikayla Kuhlmann cut the Highlanders edge to 24-17 with a kill before a kill by Haley Kleespies ended the set.
 
Radford the claimed the match with a 25-11 third set win.
 
Malloy posted seven kills in the match for second on SEMO. Adams chipped in a career best five kills (.455).
 
Ochs led the team defensively in the second match with nine digs. Dion added nine and Grimm posted a season high of five.
 
Southeast takes on Northwestern State at 2 p.m. on Saturday at Saxony Lutheran High School, 2004 Saxony Drive in Jackson, Missouri, to finish the tournament.