CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Southeast Missouri (19-6, 10-3 OVC) outlasted Ohio Valley Conference leader Austin Peay (17-8, 10-2 OVC) in five sets (33-35, 25-22, 25-22, 23-25, 15-9) Thursday evening at Houck Field House.
 
SEMO handed the Governors its second loss in conference play and is now one of three OVC teams with 10 wins in 2021. The Redhawks have now notched 10 OVC victories in each of the past three seasons.
 
The Redhawks victory Thursday also halted APSU's win streak at six matches.
 
Laney Malloy led the Redhawks attack with a career best 26 kills and 16 digs for the double-double outing. Zoey Beasley added a personal-best 25 kills (.306) while Colby Greene and Talia Gouard (.300) chipped in eight.
 
Claire Ochs dished out a career-high 60 assists with 21 digs and eight kills on a .316 clip.
 
Brooke Moore had a double-double of 20 kills and 20 digs for Austin Peay.
 
With the match knotted at 2-2, SEMO grabbed the fifth set 15-9 to claim the victory.
 
APSU started with a 2-0 lead that the Redhawks tied at 3-3.
 
SEMO then went on a 4-0 run to pull ahead 7-4. Austin Peay had three straight attack errors before a huge block by the pair of Iowans, Greene and Elissa Moylan.
 
Malloy then knocked a kill after a pair of Govs errors to double the Redhawks advantage to 10-5.
 
She added another kill followed by a rally stopper by Gouard to make the scoreboard read 12-6.
 
Austin Peay came as close as 13-9 on a kill from Jaida Clark before a winner by Beasley and Governors attack error secured the victory.
 
Malloy and Beasley (.429) each had five kills in the final frame Thursday. SEMO hit a .278 in the fifth set while APSU registered a .000.
 
The Governors took an initial 1-0 lead in the match after a marathon, 35-33, opening set that featured 26 ties and five lead changes.
 
Trailing 21-19, SEMO knotted the stanza at 21-21 with a kill by Malloy followed by a service error.
 
Greene and Gouard combined for a block to retie the set at 22-22. Malloy and Beasley then recorded kills to make the lead 24-23.
 
APSU scored back-to-back points to switch the lead before a Beasley rally stopper evened the set at 25-25.
 
Greene hit a pair of kills to keep the set tied at 28-28 and 29-29. Beasley added two more kills to continue the set at 32-32 and 33-33.
 
Austin Peay finally took the first set on a kill from Maggie Keenan and an ace by Caroline Waite.
 
Malloy, Beasley and Moore each had seven kills in the first set.
 
APSU opened the match with .267 while SEMO hit a match-best .288.
 
SEMO then jumped out to a 4-0 lead to start the second set.
 
A kill by Beasley provided a slight 15-14 edge at the media timeout.
 
Malloy then added three-straight kills to widen the gap to 18-14.
 
The Govs registered three consecutive errors to provide SEMO a 21-16 lead.
 
APSU clawed within two after a pair of kills by Moore, 22-21.
 
A kill by Malloy followed by a Governors error brought on set point at 24-21. Beasley belted a kill to even the match at 1-1 with a 25-22 second set win.
 
Beasley and Malloy each had six kills during the second set.
 
The third set continued the trend of a highly contested match. Kills from Greene cut the APSU lead to 16-15 and 17-16.
 
SEMO finally pulled ahead 21-20 after a 3-0 rally. Ochs slammed a kill from Ally Dion followed by a Beasley kill. Beasley then teamed up with Moylan for a block to conclude the sequence.
 
Keenan tied the set at 21-21 with a kill before SEMO slightly distanced itself with a kill by Greene followed by a Governor error.
 
Malloy then connected on kills to increase the Redhawks advantage to 2-0 after a 25-22 frame.
 
APSU hit a match-high .282 in the third set.
 
Austin Peay then forced a decisive fifth set with a 25-23 fourth period.
 
SEMO utilized a 7-1 run to pull ahead 15-13 and trailed 11-5 to open the set.
 
The Redhawks and Austin Peay traded 3-0 rallies to seesaw the score from 19-17 APSU to 20-19 SEMO.
 
Moore hit a pair of kills to sandwich a solo block by Keenan to make it set point at 24-21.
 
Gouard knocked a kill before a block assist with Ochs cut the deficit to one, 24-23.
 
Moore then added another kill to prolong the match and force a fifth stanza.
 
SEMO held a slight edge in points (92-90) Thursday. The Redhawks also posted 79 kills compared to Austin Peay's 68.
 
At the service line, the Govs led 8-2 in aces.
 
APSU out blocked Southeast Missouri, 14-11.
 
Gouard led the Redhawks with seven blocks while Beasley and Moylan each had four. Greene and Ochs chipped in three.
 
Tara Beilsmith finished with a match-high 25 digs with two assists and an ace. Ally Dion added 13 and six assists.
 
Marlayna Bullington grabbed 25 digs for APSU and libero Erin Eisenhart had 20. Waite finished with 39 assists and 15 digs.
 
SEMO closes out the home series with the Governors Friday at Houck Field House. First service is set for 5 p.m., CT.