CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – 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.
 
A crowd of 705 was on hand as Southeast notched its second straight Tuesday win in 2018.
 
 "The team thrived in this environment tonight," head coach Julie Yankus said. "We appreciate the support from the students and community tonight. The crowd really pumped up the team."
 
The win also marked the second win for 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.
 
"I'm so proud of how our middles played tonight," Yankus said. "Krista Berns and Maggie Adams each did a great job being available and terminating for us. They work so hard in transition and we can't get them the ball very often so it was great to get them involved tonight."
 
SEMO opened Tuesday with a match-high hitting clip of .355 and jumped out to a 9-1 advantage to prompt an early Saluki timeout. A Southern Illinois service error grew the Redhawks lead to 20-8 as the Salukis called their second timeout at 22-10 after a Bilbruck kill and a SIU attack error.
 
Annie Wehrheim tallied a kill to extend SEMO's lead to 23-11 and the Redhawks captured the set 25-13 with an Ochs rally stopper.
 
SIU hit -.025 in the first set.
 
Southeast continued its fast start in the second set with an 11-3 lead after back-to-back aces from Emily Boggetto and a Bilbruck kill.
 
SEMO matched a season high of eight aces in the match as Boggetto tied a career high of three. Ally Dion added three service aces in the match.
 
A three point Saluki rally cut SEMO's lead to 14-11 before a Malloy kill followed by a block assist by Berns and Ochs along with a Berns kill pulled the edge back in Southeast's favor, 21-15.
 
Ochs would add a kill to make the score line 24-17 and Adams and Bajare showed off their presence at the net with a block to close the set, 25-19.
 
After the break, Southeast claimed the match with a 25-19 third set. Back-to-back kills from Ochs and Adams gave SEMO an early 11-6 lead in the set.
 
Kills from Bilbruck and Berns bookended a Saluki attack error to extend the Redhawks lead to 18-11. Adams added a kill to bring the SEMO advantage to 23-16 before Bilbruck closed out the match, 25-19, with a kill.
 
Southeast out blocked the Salukis, 7-1, with five from Adams. Bilbruck tallied 4 and Bajare had two.
 
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. Boggetto posted a season high eight digs.
 
With six wins in 2018, Yankus has now totaled 97 career wins in eight seasons at Southeast.
 
SEMO next 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 a match with tournament host, UMKC, at 12:30 p.m.