NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Southeast Missouri women's volleyball (16-8, 8-2 OVC) extended its win streak to four with a 3-1 victory (25-13, 21-25, 25-14, 25-20) over Belmont (2-23, 1-9 OVC) Saturday afternoon at the Curb Event Center. 
 
With the win, Southeast matched its overall (16) and conference (8) win totals from 2018. 16 wins is the most in a season for SEMO since 2013 when the team registered 17 overall wins with nine occurring in conference play.
 
The victory was also the first for the Redhawks at Belmont since the school became a member of the Ohio Valley Conference. 
 
"We are happy to leave Nashville with two hard fought wins," head coach Julie Yankus after the match. "I'm extremely proud of our middles today. Both Maggie [Adams] and Krista [Berns] were extremely efficient for us and did a great job getting available to be offensive weapons for us. We have to credit our passers for getting us in system so much so we could run a zero tempo offense."
 
Maggie Adams notched a career-best 14 kills on a team-high .684 clip with six blocks. Krista Berns chipped in a personal-high 13 kills while connecting at a .500 rate and had four blocks. 
 
"Laney [Malloy] had a great match as well," Yankus said. "Belmont served her almost every ball and we rely on her to pass as well as attack a lot of balls and she handled herself well. She continues to be such a solid performer for us."
 
Laney Malloy paced the Redhawks with a team-high 16 kills and 12 digs for the double-double outing.
 
Claire Ochs dished out 40 assists and 10 digs to also record a double-double.
 
Southeast jumped out to 1-0 lead in the match after a 25-13 first set. The Redhawks utilized a 9-1 run to pull ahead 14-4.
 
Ally Dion added an ace to make the score 19-10 before a kill from Annie Wehrheim brought the advantage to 21-11. 
 
Berns added a kill and Malloy registered the service ace to seal the first set, 25-13. 
 
Belmont responded with a 25-21 second frame to even the match at 1-1. Trailing, 22-15, Southeast went on a 6-0 rally to come within a point, 22-21. 
 
The third set started competitively in the race to 10 points. With a slight 9-8 edge, SEMO widened the gap with a 6-0 run that featured two kills and two block assists from Adams to pull ahead 15-8.
 
Berns and Malloy each added kills before teaming up for a block to make the advantage 19-11. Malloy then chipped in another kill and Emily Boggetto placed an ace for the 10-point lead, 21-11. 
 
Ochs called her own number and slammed a kill to clinch the set, 25-14. 
 
In the fourth and final frame, SEMO distanced themselves from the Bruins with Berns rally stoppers that bookended a Malloy ace and a block assist by Berns and Ochs, 10-4.
 
Belmont stormed back with seven straight points to take an 11-10 edge.
 
Adams rocketed a kill to knot the set at 15-15 before a kill from Berns coupled with an ace by Boggetto made the score 18-16. 
 
Belmont came as close as 23-20 before a block assist by Mikayla Kuhlmann and Adams along with a kill by Wehrheim concluded the contest. Wehrheim finished the day with five rally stoppers. 
 
Southeast posted 10 aces compared to the Bruins three. Boggetto, Berns and Malloy each tallied three. 

Southeast hit at a .272 clip and posted .300 plus sets in the first (.316), third (.324) and fourth (.361).
 
The Redhawks also out blocked Belmont, 10-6. Kuhlmann had four to complement her six kills.
 
Tara Beilsmith led the defense with 22 digs. Dion added 15 while Boggetto had nine. 
 
Mackenzie LePage led the Bruins with 11 kills while Taylor Floyd had 10 kills and 12 digs.
 
Southeast competed against former Redhawk and current Belmont assistant coach Karlee Lursen Saturday. Lursen is the second former Redhawk that Southeast has faced on an opposing coaching staff in 2019 as SEMO faced Haley Bilbruck who is the graduate assistant at Eastern Illinois volleyball on Oct. 11.
 
Lursen was a member of the Redhawks volleyball team from 2009-2012 and was coached by Yankus for two seasons. Lursen was a standout outside hitter at Southeast and was a perennial member of both the Southeast and OVC academic honor rolls. In her SEMO career, Lursen recorded 563 kills with 78 total blocks.
 
Southeast next heads to Martin, Tennessee, to face UT Martin on Tuesday at 6 p.m. The Redhawks beat the Skyhawks in four sets to open its conference slate on Sept. 24. SEMO will then return home for a matchup with Jacksonville State at Houck Field House on Saturday, Nov. 2 at 1 p.m.