MURRAY, Ky. – Laney Malloy had a game-high 15 kills with 10 digs and Southeast Missouri (21-6, 12-3) registered 15 blocks in a 3-1 (27-25, 25-13, 22-25, 25-17) victory over Murray State (13-11, 7-7) Friday at Racer Arena.
SEMO's 15 blocks were the most in an Ohio Valley Conference match this season.
The Redhawks and Racers met for the 90th time and SEMO seized the momentum to earn its league best 21st victory of the season.
In a close first set, SEMO fell behind, 12-6, before putting together a 15-3 run to take a 21-15 advantage. Zoey Beasley gave the Redhawks their first lead of the match (15-14) with her kill off an assist by Claire Ochs.
After MSU battled back to tie things up at 23-23, SEMO answered with four of the final six points to claim the set, 27-25. An attack error by Alexa Harris allowed the Redhawks to finish off their two-point win.
Tied, 8-8, in the second set, SEMO rallied to outscore MSU by a count of 17-5. The Redhawks scored six of the final seven points of the set to blow by the Racers. Malloy had kills on two of the Redhawks last four points of the giving SEMO all the momentum.
After dropping the third frame, the Redhawks closed out their win with a strong final set victory.
SEMO never trailed in the fourth set and led by as many as nine points (22-13) on a service ace by Malloy. A kill by Beasley buried the Racers for good.
Beasley added 14 kills and a match-high six blocks. Elissa Moylan also had six blocks for the Redhawks. Colby Greene hit .318 with eight kills for the contest.
Ochs dished out 39 assists to accompany 10 digs.
Tara Beilsmith led the defense with 18 digs and six assists while Ally Dion added 11 digs. Kayla Closset finished with 10.
SEMO surpassed 20 wins in a season for the third time in Julie Yankus' career as head coach. The Redhawks also improved to 57-33 all-time in their series against the Racers.
The Redhawks who are 26-5 in OVC play since the start of the 2020 campaign, play MSU again Saturday. First serve is set for 6 p.m., CT.
SEMO has won 11 of its last 12 matches.
