NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Southeast Missouri women's volleyball (4-2, 4-2 OVC) bested Belmont (0-4, 0-4 OVC), 18-25, 25-21, 25-9, 25-17, Monday at the Curb Event Center to secure the regular season sweep.
 
With the victory, the Redhawks extended their win streak to four matches with their second-straight series sweep of the 2020-21 season.
 
Laney Malloy paced SEMO with 16 kills and 16 digs on a .295 hitting percentage for her 35th career double-double outing (third this season). Zoey Beasley added 13 kills and three blocks for her second-straight double-digit kill match.
 
Talia Gouard tallied a career-high eight kills with five blocks on a .538 clip while Colby Greene finished with seven kills and three blocks.
 
SEMO dropped the opening set for the fourth-straight match before securing the second, third and fourth frames to capture the victory.
 
Belmont opened the match with a 10-1 advantage. SEMO cut the deficit to 10-6 after a 5-0 rally.
 
Kills from Taylor Floyd and Ally Peterson pushed the Bruins lead to 19-11. A 4-0 run from the Redhawks made the score 19-15 and SEMO would come as close as 22-18 after rally stoppers from Kayla Closset and Greene.
 
Tied at 5-5 in the second set, SEMO distanced themselves from the Bruins with a 5-0 run that featured two service aces from Closset. The freshman from Naperville, Illinois, registered a career-best four service aces in her fourth career collegiate match to go along with eight digs.
 
The second frame saw nine ties and three lead changes. After ties of 11-11, 12-12, 13-13 and 14-14, SEMO pulled ahead 18-15 on a 4-1 run.
 
Consecutive kills from Greene and Beasley made the margin 23-20 before the Redhawks claimed the set, 25-21, after a pair of Bruins errors. SEMO closed the set on a 6-2 run.
 
After knotting the match at 1-1, the Redhawks jumped out to an early 6-0 advantage in the third set. A 4-0 SEMO run grew the lead to 12-2.
 
Tara Beilsmith placed a service ace to cap another 4-0 rally and widen the gap to 21-7.
 
Malloy belted her seventh kill (.700 in third set) of the stanza before Closset posted an ace to conclude the set 25-9 in favor of the Redhawks.
 
Beasley was also a huge factor in the third set, posting five kills on a .714 clip.
 
SEMO finished with a match-high .484 in the third set and concluded Monday with a .317 in the fourth frame.
 
In the final set of the match, SEMO once again grew a huge lead to start. A 6-0 swing made the scoreboard read 10-4.
 
The Bruins responded with a 3-0 run to cut the Redhawks edge to 14-11 before SEMO went on its own 3-0 run to regrow their lead to 17-11.
 
Four straight kills from Beasley, Gouard and Malloy (2) pushed the SEMO lead to 21-13.
 
Caroline Draver then sealed the four set victory with her first career kill. Draver, a redshirt sophomore from Shorewood, Wisconsin, made her Redhawks debut Monday and provided the Redhawks with a 25-17 final set to complete the series sweep of Belmont.  She also notched a dig in the win.
 
Claire Ochs dished out 39 assists and 10 digs for her fifth double-double of the campaign (41st career) as SEMO hit at a pace of .194.
 
Beilsmith led the SEMO defense with 17 digs to accompany four assists and three aces. Ally Dion added 13 digs with two aces.
 
SEMO registered a season-high 11 aces in the match compared to Belmont's five.
 
Blocks finished tied at 9-9.
 
Laura Shoopman posted a match-high 17 kills and 10 digs to lead the Bruins. Carly Mason had 33 assists and libero Rachel McBride finished with 16 digs and three aces.
 
SEMO will next return to Cape for a pair of home matches against SIUE on Sunday, Feb. 28 and Monday, March 1. Both matches will be contested at Houck Field House with first service set for 4 p.m. and 2 p.m., respectively.