Final Non-Conference Matches of 2018
 
Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2018
Match Information
Southeast Missouri (6-5)
vs. Western Illinois (1-8)
First Serve: 7 p.m., CT
Location: Macomb, Ill. 
Venue: Western Hall
Series: SEMO leads all-time series 7-2
Live Stats: Sidearm Live Stats 
Radio: 88.3 The Dog 
 
Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2018
vs. Northern Illinois (2-8) 
Match Information
First Serve: 6 p.m., CT
Location: DeKalb, Ill. 
Venue: Victor E. Court
Series: First meeting in program history
Video: ESPN+
Live Stats: Sidearm Live Stats

Complete Match Notes: Southeast Missouri (PDF)
 
Land of Lincoln Trip to Close Non-Conference Schedule
Southeast Missouri women's volleyball (6-5) travels to the Land of Lincoln for back-to-back matchups with Western Illinois and Northern Illinois on Tuesday and Wednesday to wrap up the non-conference schedule. SEMO faces the Leathernecks Tuesday night at 7 p.m. at Western Hall and then takes on NIU in DeKalb, Illinois, at Victor E. Court Wednesday at 6 p.m.
 
Follow the Redhawks
• Stats will be available for Southeast's matches on Tuesday and Wednesday 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 Western Illinois, 7-2 and last met the Leathernecks on Labor Day (Sept. 4, 2017) last season. The Redhawks beat WIU, 3-2 (14-25, 25-18, 25-8, 21-25, 15-13), at Houck Field House. Nzingha Clarke led the offense with 18 kills in the victory and both Krissa Gearring and Mikayla Kuhlmann each chipped in a double-double to rally Southeast past the Leathernecks. Gearring finished the night with 17 kills and 13 digs and Kuhlmann contributed 14 kills and 11 digs.
 
SEMO will then face Northern Illinois on Wednesday for the first time in program history. 
 
Scouting the Opponents
Leathernecks
Western Illinois (1-8) is coming off an 0-3 weekend with losses to Albany, West Virginia and Florida Gulf Coast. Mackenzie Steckler recorded 26 kills with a hitting clip of .500. Claire Grove led the Leathernecks with 41 digs over the weekend and Jaime Johnson logged a team-high 45 assists. The lone Leathernecks win was over Fairleigh Dickinson in the team's home opener on Aug. 24. WIU was picked to finish ninth in the Summit League Preseason Poll. Johnson and Steckler were named to the 2018 Preseason 'Players To Watch' list. 
 
Huskies
Northern Illinois enters the matchup against Southeast with a 2-8 overall record with wins over Milwaukee and Marshall. NIU fell to Georgia Tech and Alabama this past weekend with a victory over the Thundering Herd. The Huskies face Chicago State Tuesday ahead of their match with SEMO on Wednesday. Meg Wolowicz was named to the Preseason West All-MAC Team as NIU was picked to finish fifth in the MAC West.
 
Malloy Named OVC Newcomer of the Week
Sophomore outside hitter Laney Malloy was named the Ohio Valley Conference Newcomer of the Week, the league announced Monday afternoon. Malloy led Southeast offensively this past week with 63 kills over four matches to produce a team high 68.5 points. She averaged 19.3 kills per match at the Kangaroo Classic in Kansas City, Missouri, and earned all-tournament honors after she led the team with 58 kills. The Roselle, Illinois, native notched a pair of double-doubles last week with 17 kills and 16 digs against Arkansas State on Friday and had a career-high 22 kills to go with 11 digs versus Providence on Saturday. She finished the tournament with 19 kills on a .405 hitting percentage against UMKC. Malloy a transfer from Illinois-Chicago is currently ranked sixth in the OVC with 3.18 kills per set (124 total kills). She added 39 digs and five blocks over the week.
 
Kangaroo Classic Recap
The Redhawks dropped three matches this past weekend at the Kangaroo Classic hosted by UMKC in Kansas City, Missouri. Southeast fell in back-to-back five set matches to Arkansas State and Providence before losing a 3-1 decision to UMKC. 
 
Laney Malloy and Claire Ochs each recorded double-doubles in Southeast's first match at the Kangaroo Classic against ASU. Malloy led the team with personal bests in kills (17) and digs (16) for her second career double-double. Ochs tallied her third career double-double with a career best 52 assists and 15 digs. Annie Wehrheim entered the match in the second set and posted a career-high outing of 12 kills on a .455 hitting percentage with three blocks and a dig.

Malloy and Ochs both recorded their second straight double-doubles versus Providence. Malloy posted 11 digs to complement her 21 kills (.286 hitting clip) for her third career double-double and Ochs led the team with 49 assists and 25 digs for fourth career double-double. Ochs also had a personal best three service aces. Wehrheim improved on her personal-best kill mark of 12 kills on Friday with 13 against Providence. Kendall Washington tied a career best offensive outing with nine kills. Ally Dion matched her season best of 21 digs.
 
Malloy led the Redhawks offensively against UMKC with 19 kills and Mikayla Kuhlmann chipped in 14. Haley Bilbruck posted 10 on a .421 hitting clip. Dion led the team with 16 digs. Ochs posted a career best 55 assists which marked her second 50 plus assist outing of the season.
 
Houck "Filled" House Recap
Southeast Missouri women's volleyball (6-2) swept regional rival Southern Illinois (3-4), 25-13, 25-19, 25-19, Tuesday on Houck "Filled" House night at Houck Field House for the Redhawks first victory over SIU since 2013. An announced crowd of 705 was on hand as Southeast notched its second straight Tuesday win in 2018. The win also marked the second win for head coach Julie Yankus over her former school. Yankus served as an associate head coach at Southern Illinois from 2007-2010.
 
The Redhawks had an evenly distributed offense as Krista Berns led Southeast with a season high eight kills on a .438 hitting percentage and both Maggie Adams (.385) and Madara Bajare chipped in six. For Adams the six kills marked a career best outing. Laney Malloy, Haley Bilbruck and Claire Ochs each had five kills.
 
SEMO matched a season high of eight aces in the match as Emily Boggetto tied a career high of three. Ally Dion added three service aces in the match.
 
Ochs led the Redhawks with 29 assists and added 11 digs for her second career assist-dig double-double. Dion paced SEMO defensively with 14 digs and Boggetto posted a season high eight digs.
 
Nonconference Wins  
With Tuesday's victory over Southern Illinois, the Redhawks have compiled six non-conference wins which surpasses the 2017 non-conference mark of 5-9. SEMO last recorded six non-conference wins in 2013 when the team finished 17-16 with a record of 8-9 in non-conference contests. 
 
Looking Ahead
The Redhawks open their 2018 Ohio Valley Conference slate on Friday, Sept. 21 at Houck Field House against 2017 OVC Champion Austin Peay.
 
Best Start for SEMO in D1 Era 
With a 5-0 record to start 2018, Southeast recorded its best start to a season in its NCAA Division I era (1991). Prior to this year, SEMO had never opened a season during its DI era with five consecutive sweeps (15 sets).
 
Approaching 100 Wins
With six wins in 2018, Redhawks Head Coach Julie Yankus has now totaled 97 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 Aug. 24-25 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.
 
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.
 
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.