MURRAY, Ky. – Claire Ochs surpassed 4,000 assists in her career as a Redhawk as Southeast Missouri women's volleyball (21-7, 12-4 OVC) fell to Murray State (14-11,8-7 OVC), 22-25, 21-25, 21-25, Saturday evening at Racer Arena to split the regular-season series.
 
Ochs, a senior setter from Chesterfield, Missouri, overcame the milestone in the second set Saturday and now has 4,011 in her career at SEMO to go along with 1,185 career digs.
 
She finished Saturday's match with 29 assists, seven assists and two kills.
 
A day after overcoming Murray State in four sets, SEMO was swept by the Racers in their final regular-season road series.
 
Laney Malloy led the SEMO offense with 11 kills and 10 digs with two aces. Zoey Beasley added nine kills and Colby Greene totaled seven.
 
SEMO and Murray State opened the first set tied at 9-9.
 
The Racers and Redhawks exchanged 3-0 runs before Murray State went into the media timeout with a 15-14 edge.
 
A 5-0 run by Murray State pushed the lead to 19-14. Taylor Beasley, Zoey Beasley's younger sister, had two kills during the sequence.
 
A pair of Redhawk errors brought on set point at 24-19.
 
SEMO fended off set point three times before Murray State took the opening set 25-22. Zoey Beasley knocked a kill before an Ochs ace in the 3-0 Redhawk run.
 
Malloy, Zoey Beasley, Greene, Taylor Beasley, Brooke Watts and Jayla Holcombe each had three kills in the first set.
 
Murray State hit a match-high .300 second set and jumped out to a 9-4 lead that increased to 15-10 at the media break.
 
SEMO cut the Racers margin to 17-16 after a 3-0 run.
 
Malloy then knocked a kill before posting a service ace to knot the stanza at 18-18. She had five kills on a .417 in the second set.
 
Ochs hit a kill to cut the deficit to 20-19. Greene then reknotted the set at 21-21 with a rally stopper.
 
Murray State extended its advantage in the match to 2-0 after a 4-0 rally.
 
In the third set, Murray State distanced itself from SEMO with a 4-0 run to make the scoreboard read 15-11.
 
Malloy belted a kill after consecutive Murray State errors to claw within one, 16-15.
 
The Racers utilized a 6-0 run to widen the gap to 22-15.
 
SEMO continued to fight and came within four (23-19) after kills by Ochs and Talia Gouard.
 
The Redhawks added two more points after Racer errors before Holcombe secured the win for Murray State with a kill, 25-21.
 
The Racers outhit SEMO, .224 to .087. The Redhawks hit a match-high .174 in the second set.
 
Tara Beilsmith led the Redhawk defense with 19 digs, three assists and an ace. Ally Dion added 10 and Kayla Closset finished with six and an ace.
 
Murray State outscored SEMO, 56-42, and out blocked the Redhawks, 10-3.
 
Aces were tied at 5-5.
 
Watts led the Racers with 12 kills followed by Holcombe (9) and Taylor Beasley (6). Kolby McClelland posted four blocks and three aces. Bailey DeMier concluded the match with 32 assists and Becca Fernandez had 17 digs.
 
The loss halted SEMO's win streak at three matches.
 
The Redhawks close out the 2021 Ohio Valley Conference regular season Nov. 12-13 when the Redhawks host OVC leading Morehead State (18-9, 14-2 OVC) at Houck Field House. Match times are set for 6 p.m., CT and 2 p.m. in the Friday, Saturday series.
 
SEMO will recognize seniors Ally Dion, Laney Malloy, Elissa Moylan, Claire Ochs and Caroline Draver on Senior Day Nov. 12.