Kangaroo Classic at Missouri - Kansas City
 
Friday, Sept. 7, 2018
Match Information
Southeast Missouri (6-2)
vs. Arkansas State (2-4)
First Serve: 1:30 p.m., CT
Location: Kansas City, Mo. 
Venue: Swinney Recreation Center
Series: Arkansas State leads all-time series 25-19
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
 
Saturday, Sept. 8, 2018
vs. Providence (4-2) 
Match Information
First Serve: 10 a.m.
Location: Kansas City, Mo. 
Venue: Swinney Recreation Center
Series: First Meeting in Program History
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
 
at Missouri – Kansas City (3-3)
Match Information
First Serve: 12:30 p.m.
Location: Kansas City, Mo. 
Venue: Swinney Recreation Center
Series: Southeast Missouri leads all-time series 7-3
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
Video: WAC Digital Network
 
Complete Match Notes: Southeast Missouri (PDF)
 
Southeast Travels to Kansas City for Kangaroo Classic at UMKC
Southeast Missouri women's volleyball (6-2) heads 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 1:30 p.m. at the Swinney Recreation Center. SEMO then takes on Providence at 10 a.m. on Saturday followed by a match with tournament host, UMKC, at 12:30 p.m.
 
Follow the Redhawks
• Stats will be available for Southeast's Kangaroo Classic matches on Friday and Saturday on GoSoutheast.com.
• @SEMOvb, the official Twitter page of Redhawks volleyball, will feature live in-game updates all season long.
 
Series History
Arkansas State leads the all-time series on Southeast, 25-19. SEMO and the Red Wolves last met on Aug. 28, 2015 in the first match of the 2015 Drury Hotels Redhawks Invitational at Houck Field House. ASU took the match 3-0 (25-20, 25-10, 25-16) as Krissa Gearring led SEMO's offense with 12 kills and Madalyn Werths added 11. Southeast last beat the Red Wolves in 2009 (Aug. 28, 3-1).
 
SEMO meets Providence for the first time in program history at 10 a.m. on Saturday.
 
The Redhawks hold a 7-3 edge in the all-time series with Missouri – Kansas City. The two teams last met on Aug. 29, 2015 at the 2015 Drury Hotels Redhawks Invitational at Houck Field House with UMKC the victor, 3-0 (26-24, 25-15, 25-14). Nzingha Clarke posted 12 kills in the match as she was named to the all-tournament team. Southeast last beat UMKC on Sept. 18, 2013.
 
Scouting the Opponents
Red Wolves
Arkansas State is 2-4 currently in 2018 after three straight losses at the Southern Methodist (SMU) Doubletree Classic (Creighton, SMU, North Carolina State) in Dallas, Texas. ASU picked up wins over Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Memphis in the opening weekend's Memphis Invitational. The Red Wolves were selected to finish second in the West Division of the Sun Belt Conference and Carlisa May and Ellie Watkins were named the SBC Preseason Offensive Player of the Year and Setter of the Year. May leads Arkansas State with 89 kills in 2018 and Ellie Watkins paces the team with 185 assists. Defensively, Tatum Ticknor has a team high 91 digs.
 
Friars
Providence boasts a 4-2 record in 2018 after three straight victories to capture the 14th Annual Friar Classic (UMass-Lowell, Fairleigh Dickinson, Brown). Allison Barber was named tournament MVP and was named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll. Lindsey Schaible and Allison Impellizeri each earned all-tournament laurels. Impellizeri currently leads the Friars with 60 kills and Addison Root is second on the team with 52. Barber is first on Providence with 204 assists. Mackenzie Taylor was tabbed BIG EAST Freshman of the Week and leads the Friars with 102 digs.  
 
Kangaroos
Tournament host, UMKC, has an even 3-3 mark this season. This past weekend the Kangaroos earned a lone victory with a 3-1 decision over UTEP sandwiched between losses to Omaha and Illinois-Chicago at the Omaha Classic. Missouri – Kansas City opened the season with two wins over South Dakota State and Western Michigan before a loss to Austin Peay at the UMKC Invitational. Melanie Brecka and Emma Dyer each earned all-tournament honors at the Omaha Classic this past weekend. Tyrecia Lukes tops the Roos with 93 kills and Rhegan Spiegel is first on the team with 101 digs. Alli Schomers paces the team with 156 assists and Kynnedy Myers has 126 this 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 a 6-2 non-conference record 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. 
 
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 the Kangaroo Classic, Southeast travels to the Land of Lincoln for back-to-back matchups with Western Illinois and Northern Illinois on Tuesday, Sept. 11 and Wednesday, Sept. 12 to wrap up the non-conference schedule. SEMO faces the Leathernecks Tuesday night at 7 p.m. and then takes on the NIU Huskies in DeKalb, Illinois, Wednesday at 6 p.m. The Redhawks then 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.