Houck "Filled" House presented by Jimmy John's 
 
Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018
Match Information
Southeast Missouri (5-2)
vs. Southern Illinois (3-3)
First Serve: 6:30 p.m., CT
Location: Cape Girardeau, Mo. 
Venue: Houck Field House
Series: SIU leads all-time series 20-9
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
Video: OVC Digital Network
 
Complete Match Notes: Southeast Missouri (PDF)
Complete Match Notes: Southern Illinois (PDF)

SEMO Hosts SIU Tuesday Night at Houck "Filled" House 
Southeast Missouri women's volleyball (5-2) welcomes regional rival Southern Illinois (3-3) to Cape Girardeau for Houck "Filled" House Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. at Houck Field House. 
 
Promotions
Houck "Filled" House presented by Jimmy John's
• The first 800 fans to enter Houck Field House will receive a Redhawks Fortnite themed t-shirt courtesy of Jimmy John's.
• Help us break our Houck Field House volleyball attendance record of 1,206 set in 2014.
• Fortnite-themed giveaways and prizes for fans.
• Post match Autographs.
• Redhawks Club Night
    -Free Admission for all Redhawks Club member households.
    -Free tailgate before the game for Redhawks Club members (complimentary beer & food).

Follow the Redhawks
• Stats will be available for Tuesday's matches on GoSoutheast.com.
• @SEMOvb, the official Twitter page of Redhawks volleyball, will feature live in-game updates all season long.
 
Series History
Southern Illinois leads the all-time series with Southeast 20-9. SEMO and the Salukis last faced off in 2017 at Carbondale, Illinois, in a five-set thriller that SIU won 3-2 (20-25, 25-21, 21-25, 25-17, 15-13) Sept. 12 at SIU Arena. Mikayla Kuhlmann tallied a career-high 20 kills to lead the SEMO offense. Krissa Gearring chipped in 13 kills and 15 digs for her fourth double-double in 2017 and second straight match.
 
Scouting the Salukis
Southern Illinois is 3-3 in 2018 and most recently went 1-2 at their home tournament, Saluki Invitational, this past weekend at SIU Arena. The Salukis beat Alabama A&M before losses to Miami (Ohio) and Murray State of the Ohio Valley Conference. Maggie Nedoma earned the all-tournament team nod as she led the Salukis in kills in all three matches and totaled 41 kills (4.10/set) on the weekend. Nedoma has now recorded 10-plus kills in six-straight contests and leads SIU with 91 kills (4.14 kills/set). Alayna Martin paces the Salukis with 193 assists. Defensively, Alison Thomas leads Southern Illinois with 99 digs. 
 
Redhawks Invitational Recap
Southeast posted a 1-2 record at the 2018 Redhawks Invitational this past weekend. SEMO opened the tournament with a 3-0 win over Louisiana Monroe on Friday before falling in its first match of 2018 to Radford, 0-3. On Saturday, Southeast dropped a 1-3 decision to Northwestern State, the 2018 Redhawks Invitational Champions. 
 
Laney Malloy led the Redhawks with 38 kills over the three matches and is tied with Madara Bajare for the team lead with 61 in 2018. Malloy started the tournament with a career best 16 kills against Louisiana Monroe Friday and then added 15 against NSU Saturday. Malloy also notched her first career kill-dig double-double Saturday with 15 kills and 12 digs. 
 
Bajare posted 28 kills at the Redhawks Invitational and started the tournament with back-to-back double-digit kill outings on Friday. The senior from Talsi, Latvia, hit a personal best 15 kills on a career-best hitting percentage of .440 against Louisiana Monroe and then added 12 in the evening match with Radford on a .423 hitting clip. She also chipped in a career best two service aces in the match with ULM.
 
Claire Ochs led SEMO with 91 total assists over three matches at the Redhawks Invitational to earn all-tournament honors for the second straight week. During the week, Ochs recorded four straight matches of 20 plus assists including a career best of 40 against Louisiana Monroe on Friday. She also tallied 32 digs this week including nine in back-to-back matches against Radford and Northwestern State. Ochs also added 15 kills and had six blocks over the four matches.
 
Looking Ahead
After Tuesday's match with Southern Illinois, SEMO travels to Kansas City, Missouri, for the Kangaroo Classic hosted by Missouri-Kansas City Sept. 7-8. The Redhawks face Arkansas State to open the tournament Friday at 3:30 p.m. SEMO then takes on Providence at 10 a.m. on Saturday followed by tournament host, UMKC, at 12:30 p.m. 
 
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 five wins in 2018, Redhawks Head Coach Julie Yankus has now totaled 96 career wins in eight seasons at Southeast. Yankus picked up her 50th career victory on Nov. 9, 2013 against Austin Peay, 3-0.
 
Tuesday 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 Aug. 28. 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.
 
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.
 
Block Party
Southeast recorded a season-high 15 blocks against Troy on Aug. 25 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.
 
First Double-Double of 2018
Claire Ochs earned the first double-double of 2018 in SEMO's second match on 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 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 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.