JACKSONVILLE, Ala. – The #2-seeded Southeast Missouri women's volleyball team (21-10, 12-4 OVC) prevailed over #7 Tennessee Tech (13-17, 9-7 OVC), 3-1 (25-11, 21-25, 25-18, 28-26), Thursday afternoon at the Pete Mathews Coliseum to advance to the Semifinals of the 2019 Ohio Valley Conference Volleyball Championship on Friday.
 
With the victory, Southeast will face #3 Murray State Friday at 3:30 p.m. in the first of two semifinal matches.
 
The win marked the first for the Redhawks at the OVC Volleyball Championship Tournament since 2012 and matched the 2012 season's win total of 21. 
 
Mikayla Kuhlmann led the SEMO offense Thursday with 13 kills. Laney Malloy was second on the team with 11 kills and had 14 digs for the double-double outing. Krista Berns and Annie Wehrheim each had eight kills and Maggie Adams chipped in seven. 
 
"We really have to credit our balanced attack for this win," head coach Julie Yankus said after the match. "All of our attackers were effective and that made us really tough to defend. Our passers really made the balanced attack possible by putting us in system. Claire [Ochs] did a great job leading the team and putting our hitters in good situations. Mikayla [Kuhlmann] and Laney [Malloy] took some really aggressive swings today which helped spark our entire offense."
 
Setter Claire Ochs finished with a double-double of 43 assists and 13 digs. Ochs now has 1,109 assists in 2019 which is fourth all-time in Southeast history for a single-season (25-point rally scoring era 2008 to present). 
 
In the opening set, Southeast jumped out a 6-1 advantage after kills from Adams, Wehrheim and Malloy. A 4-0 run by the Redhawks increased the margin to 14-6. Ochs notched a service ace and Adams and Wehrheim teamed up for a block during the rally.
 
Southeast then extended its lead to 23-10 on a 6-0 rally that featured a pair of service aces from Malloy and rally stoppers from Malloy and Ochs. 
 
A kill from Ali Verzani made the score, 23-11, before SEMO closed out the set with a winner from Kuhlmann and a Golden Eagles attack error. 
 
The Redhawks hit at a .353 pace in the first set before a match-high .423 the following frame.
 
TTU responded with a 25-21 second set to knot the match at 1-1. Trailing 14-9, SEMO, utilized a kill from Ochs coupled with a pair of Tennessee Tech attack errors to cut the deficit to 14-12.
 
Malloy added a kill before assisting on a block with Berns to keep the TTU edge one, 19-18.
 
Kills from Taylor Dorsey and Skylar Boom grew the Golden Eagles edge to 23-19 before Kuhlmann connected with a kill followed by a solo block by Adams.
 
TTU concluded the frame with a Dallas Oatis rally stopper and a service ace by Emma Osterbur, 25-21, as the two teams headed to a third set with the match score at one apiece. 
 
Tennessee Tech continued that momentum into the third set, starting with a 5-2 lead. 
 
Consecutive kills by Berns combined with a pair of Golden Eagles errors gave the Redhawks a slight 6-5 edge. 
 
A 5-0 SEMO rally brought the advantage to 14-8 that grew to 20-10 after a 4-0 run punctuated by a block assist by Wehrheim and Adams. 
 
Rally stoppers from Oatis and Aynsley Stier brought the score to 24-18 before Malloy blasted a kill from the back row to seal the set. 
 
The fourth and final set was very competitive and featured 13 ties. Southeast attacked at a .286 rate compared to TTU's .174.
 
A kill from Ochs gave SEMO an 11-9 advantage early in the frame. 
 
Beilsmith then delivered a service ace to push the SEMO lead to 17-13. The Golden Eagles stormed back with a 5-1 run to tie the set at 18-18.
 
Kuhlmann notched a kill before a TTU attack error brought on match point, 24-22. 
 
The Golden Eagles fended off match point with three straight kills from Dorsey (2) and Boom before Wehrheim hit a kill to retie the set at 25-25. 
 
Boom then hit a kill before SEMO grabbed the victory with three straight Golden Eagles errors, 28-26. 
 
Southeast outhit Tennessee Tech, .307 to .160. TTU produced 61 total kills but committed 35 errors throughout the match while the Redhawks had 52 total kills.
 
SEMO led the battle at the service line with six aces. Malloy finished with three, Ochs had a pair and Beilsmith added one.
 
The Redhawks also out blocked the Golden Eagles, 12-4. Adams paced the Redhawks with seven while Berns followed with four. Wehrheim and Malloy both finished with three and Ochs notched a pair. 

Adams ranks fourth all-time in Southeast program history (25-point rally scoring era) for block assists in a single-season with 98 this season.

Berns also tied Taylor Masterson for fourth all-time in Redhawks program history (25-point rally scoring era) with 287 career block assists.
 
Beilsmith led the SEMO defense with 16 digs Thursday. Ally Dion added seven and is now three digs away from 2,000 in her career as a Redhawk. Emily Boggetto chipped in four. 
 
Dorsey had a match-high 17 kills and Verzani finished with a double-double of 13 kills and 20 digs. 
 
Southeast will face #3 Murray State Friday at 3:30 p.m. in the 2019 OVC Volleyball Championship Semifinals. SEMO and Murray State split the regular-season series, 1-1, with each team winning on the road.