ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Southeast Missouri women's volleyball (5-6) fought past Saint Louis (6-4), 3-2 (25-23, 18-25, 25-16, 23-25, 15-12), Tuesday night at the Chaifetz Pavilion for Southeast's first victory over the Billikens since 2013.
"I'm so proud of the team's resilience tonight," head coach
Julie Yankus said after the match. "This was an exciting and emotional match and the team stayed tough and never backed down."
St. Louis native
Mikayla Kuhlmann led the Redhawks offensively, posting a season high 17 kills with eight digs on a .289 hitting clip.
"Mikayla had an amazing performance tonight," Yankus said of Kuhlmann. "She was hitting over a big block and making huge plays. She was so fun to watch tonight."
Laney Malloy posted 16 kills and 17 digs for her fifth double-double in 2019.
Annie Wehrheim who crushed the match-clinching kill, added 11 on a .364 hitting percentage.
Southeast jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the match after a highly competitive 25-23 opening set that featured 11 ties and six lead changes. Malloy paced SEMO with five kills in the frame.
Saint Louis answered back with a 25-18 second set.
The Redhawks recaptured the advantage with a 25-16 third set, while swinging at a .500 pace.
The Billikens then knotted the contest, 2-2, with a 25-23 fourth set, forcing the decisive fifth set.
Tied at two sets apiece, the Redhawks stormed out to a 7-3 lead in the fifth set to force a SLU timeout.
Out of the break,
Claire Ochs and
Krista Berns combined for a block assist to push the advantage to 8-3 and bring on the changeover.
Malloy then delivered consecutive service aces to extend the lead to 11-4. A Kuhlmann kill moved the score to 12-5 Redhawks.
The Billikens then mounted a late rally utilizing a kill from Lauren Mershon coupled with a block assist by Mershon and Juliana Phillips to cut the advantage to 13-9 and prompt a SEMO timeout.
Wehrheim responded with a kill out of the break for match point at 14-9.
SLU came as close as 14-12 before Wehrheim registered her fourth rally stopper of the frame to clinch the victory for Southeast.
In the back-and-forth first set,
Emily Boggetto tallied a kill for a slight SEMO lead of 9-6.
Tara Beilsmith then grew the margin to 16-12 with back-to-back aces.
Boggetto added an ace of her own to make the score 19-17 before three straight points by the Billikens pulled the lead back in the home team's favor, 20-19.
After a Redhawks timeout, Malloy evened the set at 20-20 with a rally stopper. Kuhlmann tied the frame for the final time, 23-23, before SEMO closed out with a kill by Malloy followed by an Ochs ace.
Southeast tallied a season high 12 aces in their second straight Tuesday match. Beilsmith led the Redhawks with five while Malloy, Boggetto and Ochs each had two.
SLU was unfazed by the early setback and grew its lead in the second set from 9-4 to 18-12.
Malloy then hit a kill before the Billikens increased its advantage to 22-13 on a rally that included a pair of kills by Margaret Mahlke.
At set point, 24-15, Southeast rallied off four straight points including two Kuhlmann kills sandwiched between a
Maggie Adams (Fenton, Mo.) rally stopper and an ace from Ochs.
Maya Taylor then tallied a solo block to even the contest at 1-1 after a 25-18 second set.
Southeast was dominant in the third set, only committing one error while totaling 12 kills on a .500 hitting percentage.
Kuhlmann slammed a pair of kills to distance the Redhawks from SLU, 15-8. She finished with six in the third frame.
SEMO extended its advantage to 20-9 as the Billikens made a late push but came as close as 24-16 before a SLU service error.
Southeast began the fourth set with a 6-2 lead after a Beilsmith ace.
The Billikens then pulled ahead, 12-11, which brought on a Redhawks timeout.
Malloy notched a kill and
Ally Dion delivered a service ace to sway the advantage back to SEMO, 13-12.
Malloy then tied the frame at 17-17 with a kill before Adams cut the deficit to 21-19 after consecutive kills from Sien Gallop.
Gallop chipped in another kill to make the scoreboard reflect match point, 24-21.
Wehrheim then slammed a kill and Beilsmith registered an ace as the Redhawks pulled within one, 24-23, before a Maya Taylor kill sealed the set.
Southeast and Saint Louis finished with 10 blocks apiece.
Krista Berns led the Redhawks with six block assists to pass Emily Hughes (230 from 2008-10) for fifth all-time in SEMO history for career block assists (25-point rally scoring era from 2008 to present) with 234.
Malloy added four and Adams had three.
Ochs of Chesterfield, Missouri, dished out 46 assists in her hometown.
Beilsmith (Weldon Spring, Mo.) who won a Missouri Class 4A State Volleyball Championship with Ochs in 2017 tallied a match high 20 digs to complement her career high five service aces.
Boggetto chipped in nine digs.
The Redhawks close out their non-conference slate with the Memphis Invitational Friday and Saturday. Southeast opens the tournament against Toledo Friday at 12:30 p.m. and then faces North Alabama at 4:30 p.m. later that day. SEMO closes out the tournament against the host, Memphis Tigers, Saturday at 1 p.m.
