OVC Matches #5 & #6
 
Southeast Missouri (2-2, 2-2 OVC)
at Belmont (0-2, 0-2 OVC)
Match Information
Date: Sunday, Feb. 21, 2021
Location: Nashville, Tenn.
Venue: Curb Event Center
First Serve: 4 p.m., CT
All-Time Series: Belmont leads 6-5
Video: ESPN+
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
 
Southeast Missouri (2-2, 2-2 OVC)
at Belmont (0-2, 0-2 OVC)
Match Information
Date: Monday, Feb. 22, 2021
Location: Nashville, Tenn.
Venue: Curb Event Center
First Serve: 4 p.m., CT
Video: ESPN+
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
 
Media Coverage
Twitter: @SEMOvb
Media Guide
 
Redhawks Head to the Music City to Take on Belmont Sunday and Monday
Southeast Missouri women's volleyball (2-2, 2-2 OVC) treks to the Music City for a pair of matches against Belmont (0-2, 0-2 OVC) on Sunday and Monday. Match times are set for 4 p.m., CT on both days and both matches will be contested at the Curb Event Center.
 
Follow the Redhawks
• Stats will be available for Sunday's and Monday's matches on GoSoutheast.com.
• Both matches will be streamed on ESPN+.
• @SEMOvb, the official Twitter page of Redhawks volleyball, will feature live in-game updates all season long.
 
Scouting the Bruins
Belmont was swept by SIUE in a pair of home matches to open the 2020-21 season on Feb. 7 and Feb. 8.
 
Kristen Clemons (13) and Sophia Hagstrom (12) lead the Bruins in kills after two matches. Carly Mason notched 35 assists over the two matches and logged her first double-double of the season. Rachel McBride led the team in digs with 25, followed by Mason and Ally Peterson, who each added 21 over the stretch.
 
Belmont's matches against UT Martin set for Feb. 14 and 15 were postponed due to weather. The Bruins will now face UTM on Feb. 24 at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m.
 
Belmont was pegged to finish the 2020-21 season 12th in the OVC.
 
Series History
Belmont leads the all-time series with SEMO, 6-5. SEMO has won the last two matchups in the series.
 
The Redhawks won the lone matchup in 2019, 3-1 (25-13, 21-25, 25-14, 25-20), in Nashville, Tennessee, on Oct. 26, 2019. The victory was the first for SEMO at Belmont since the school became a member of the OVC.
 
Maggie Adams notched 14 kills on a team-high .684 clip with six blocks. Krista Berns chipped in 13 kills while connecting at a .500 rate and had four blocks.
 
Beilsmith Named OVC Co-Defensive Player of the Week
Sophomore libero Tara Beilsmith was named the OVC Co-Defensive Player of the Week, the league announced Wednesday.
 
Beilsmith led the Redhawks defense with 41 digs over the two matches Feb. 14 as SEMO (2-2, 2-2 OVC) swept Eastern Kentucky (1-3, 1-3 OVC) for its first two conference victories of the 2020-21 campaign.
 
The Weldon Spring, Missouri native, posted 16 digs in the doubleheader opener before tallying a season-best 25 in the afternoon tilt. Beilsmith also finished the week with eight assists and two service aces. Beilsmith committed just one receiving error over the two matches.
 
The weekly honor marks the first for Beilsmith this season and third in her career after she earned OVC Defensive Player and Newcomer of the Week laurels in the same week.
 
Beilsmith ranks third in the OVC with 5.00 digs per set (75 digs). She has finished with 20-plus digs twice this season and in double-figures in all four matches.
 
About Last Week
The Redhawks (2-2, 2-2 OVC) swept Eastern Kentucky (1-3, 1-3 OVC) with a pair of four set victories Feb. 14 at Houck Field House for SEMO's first two OVC wins this season.
 
SEMO beat the Colonels, 20-25, 25-23, 25-18, 25-22, in the noon match before overcoming EKU, 23-25, 28-26, 25-20, 25-14, in the evening tilt.
 
Laney Malloy paced the Redhawks with 36 kills (4.50 kills/set) and 23 digs (2.88 digs/set) on a .288 hitting clip. Malloy registered a season-high 21 kills (.275) with nine digs in the second match of Sunday's doubleheader after opening the day with 15 kills (.295) and 14 digs in the noon opener. The double-double in Feb. 14's opener was Malloy's first of the season and 33rd in her career as a Redhawk. Malloy also finished the doubleheader with six blocks, two assists and two service aces.
 
Malloy ranks first in the OVC with 12.07 attacks per set and second in the league with 4.80 points per set.
 
Claire Ochs ran the SEMO offense, dishing out 86 assists and finished with 20 digs. Ochs notched 40 and 46 assists in the pair of Sunday matches against the Colonels to complement 10 digs in each match. She has now registered a double-double in each of the last three Redhawk matches for 39 in her career. SEMO hit at a pace of .220 in the second match against EKU. Ochs also finished SEMO's home opening matches with 11 kills on a .267 hitting clip and compiled three blocks.
 
Ochs is fourth in the OVC with 10.40 assists per set.
 
Adams with the Block
Senior Maggie Adams leads the OVC with 1.20 blocks per set. Through four matches, Adams has accumulated 18.0 total blocks with 14 kills (0.93 kills/set). She has registered four kills in three matches this season and led the Redhawks with eight blocks in the opener against EKU on Feb. 14.
 
Doubleheader Debut for Closset
Kayla Closset made her Redhawks debut in SEMO's doubleheader against Eastern Kentucky on Feb. 14. Closset posted nine kills, seven digs and two blocks in her first collegiate volleyball match. Closset, a freshman from Naperville, Illinois, then made her first career start in the afternoon tilt and finished with five kills, 12 digs and a service ace.
 
Greene is our Favorite Color After Red
Colby Greene has registered double-digit kills in each of the last three matches. The junior from North Liberty, Iowa, tallied 27 (12 and 15, .375 %) in the doubleheader against Eastern Kentucky on Feb. 14. She also notched 15 kills on a .324 hitting clip to conclude the season-opening series at Jacksonville State on Feb. 8.
 
Greene is second on the Redhawks with 49 kills (4.27 kills/set) this season.
 
Top THREE!!
SEMO ranks second in the conference as a team for both digs (218) and total attacks (552). The Redhawks also are third as a team for kills (197) and assists (174).
 
Redhawks Debuts
Freshmen Addy McAleer and Izzy Lukens both made their Redhawks debuts at Jacksonville State Feb. 7-8.
 
McAleer, an outside hitter from Leawood, Kansas, started in both matches and tallied three kills and three digs. Lukens, a setter from Omaha, Nebraska, appeared in four of the six sets.          
 
2020-21 OVC Preseason Poll
Four Redhawks were featured on the 2020-21 Preseason All-Ohio Valley Conference team as the Redhawks were selected to finish first in the preseason poll. SEMO, the 2019 OVC Tournament Champions, earned 10 first place votes and 222 total votes in the predicted order of finish that was selected by OVC Head Volleyball Coaches and Sports Information Directors.
 
The Redhawks also had a league-best four players selected to the 2020-21 Preseason All-OVC volleyball team in middle blocker Maggie Adams, libero Tara Beilsmith, outside hitter Laney Malloy and setter Claire Ochs. All four were named to 2019 All-OVC Teams.
 
2019 OVC Tournament Champions
The #2-seeded Southeast Missouri women's volleyball team swept #4 Morehead State, 26-24, 25-19, 28-26, at the Pete Mathews Coliseum to capture the 2019 Ohio Valley Conference Tournament Championship on Nov. 23, 2019. The title was the sixth for SEMO and first since 2006. With the victory, SEMO earned an automatic qualification to the 2019 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship where it faced #9-ranked Kentucky on Dec. 6, 2019.
 
SEMO also matched the 2000 Redhawks that totaled 23 wins (23-9, 16-0 OVC) with the victory on Nov. 23, 2019. Laney Malloy, Mikayla Kuhlmann and Claire Ochs were each named to the 2019 OVC All-Tournament Team. Ochs was selected as the tournament MVP. The trio is the first Redhawks awarded OVC All-Tournament Team honors since Colleen Yarber garnered the distinction in 2012.
 
Malloy led the Redhawks offense with 16 kills and 10 digs for the double-double on a .267. Kuhlmann chipped in 12 on a .417 hitting clip. Annie Wehrheim finished with seven kills (.300) and Maggie Adams had five kills and four total blocks. Ochs dished out 32 assists with eight digs and five kills. Tara Beilsmith led the SEMO defense with a match-high 18 digs.
 
SEMO concluded the 2019 campaign with a 23-11 record, finishing 12-4 in OVC play (second in the regular season).
 
Team Makeup
SEMO returns 12 players from the 2019 OVC Tournament Championship team. The 2020-21 Redhawks team features seven upperclassmen including Maggie Adams, Laney Malloy and Claire Ochs who were all starters and All-OVC performers in 2019. SEMO also returns its All-OVC libero in sophomore Tara Beilsmith.
 
There are also six newcomers on the 2020-21 squad including Radford sophomore transfer Mackenzie Meehan and freshmen Addy McAleer, Nwakaego Nwagbuo, Izzy Lukens, Lexie Smith and Kayla Closset.
 
Looking Ahead
SEMO next returns home for a pair of matches against SIUE on Feb. 28 and March 1 at Houck Field House. Match times are set for 4 p.m. and 2 p.m., CT.