CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Southeast Missouri women's volleyball (8-3) opened its second-straight home tournament with a pair of victories over Tulsa (4-4) and Southern Illinois (5-7) Friday at Houck Field House. SEMO commenced the 2021 Redhawks Invitational with a 3-1 triumph (25-21, 16-25, 25-17, 25-9) over Tulsa before sweeping border rival, SIU, 25-17, 25-18, 25-11, in the night cap.
 
SEMO hit a .307 in the opener with Tulsa before a season-high .355 in the Redhawks third 3-0 sweep in 2021 over Southern Illinois.
 
SEMO notched a season-best 12 aces in the evening meeting with SIU.
 
SEMO 3, Tulsa 1
 
Southeast Missouri opened its Redhawk Invitational, SEMO's second straight home tournament with a 25-21, 16-25, 25-17, 25-9 win over Tulsa in the morning.
 
Laney Malloy led the offense with 23 kills and 10 digs to go along with two aces and two assists on a .457 hitting clip. Zoey Beasley chipped in 14 kills on a .300 rate while Colby Greene finished with 11 kills on a .269 hitting percentage.
 
SEMO hit .307 in the match. Claire Ochs ran the offense, tallying 53 assists and 11 digs.
 
The Redhawks started the contest with a 9-4 advantage in the opening set after kills by Malloy, Beasley and a block assist by Claire Ochs and Talia Gouard.
 
Beasley added a kill before a rally stopper from Ochs after a Golden Hurricane error to push the advantage to 19-13.
 
Kayley Cassaday posted a kill and then a service ace to cut the Redhawk lead to 23-21.
 
Malloy then secured the opening set with a pair of kills as SEMO took the frame, 25-21. She finished with six while Beasley added four in the set.
 
The Redhawks started the second stanza fast with a 4-1 edge before a 6-0 run by Tulsa shifted the advantage to 9-5 in favor of the Golden Hurricane.
 
Cassaday then hit a trio of kills before a rally stopper by Aysu Dalogullari to extend Tulsa's margin to 19-14.
 
The Golden Hurricane closed the set on a 6-1 run to even the match at 1-1 after a 25-16 second frame. Tulsa hit at a stellar rate of .528 with 20 kills and one error. Cassaday had six of those rally stoppers during set #2.
 
SEMO continued its trend of opening a set fast, commencing the third stanza 5-1. Three straight kills from Gouard, Malloy and Beasley grew the lead to 10-6.
 
The Redhawks added a 3-0 rally to widen the gap to 17-11. Malloy and Greene slammed kills to bookend an Ally Dion ace.
 
Tulsa responded with a 4-0 run to cut into the SEMO margin, 17-15.
 
Dalogullari notched a kill before a 6-1 rally secured the set for the Redhawks. Ochs finalized the frame with a kill, 25-17. SEMO notched a .359 hitting percentage before concluding the match with a .520 in the fourth. Malloy smacked eight kills in the third frame.
 
SEMO started the final set with an 8-4 edge that moved to 12-5 after a 3-0 run. 
 
The Redhawks then pushed their advantage to 17-7 after kills by Greene (2) and Malloy (2).
 
SEMO concluded the frame on an 8-1 run to capture the match 25-9.
 
Tara Beilsmith paced the defense with 18 digs and three assists. Ally Dion chipped in 17.
 
The Redhawks outscored Tulsa, 71-55. SEMO notched six aces compared to the Golden Hurricane's two.
 
Dion and Kayla Closset each tallied two aces.
 
Tulsa out blocked SEMO, 7-4.
 
SEMO 3, SIU 0
 
The Redhawks closed out the first day of the Redhawks Invitational with their third 3-0 sweep of the 2021 season over border rival, Southern Illinois.
 
Malloy paced the offense with 11 kills. Beasley added six while Gouard, Moylan and Greene each chipped in five. The Redhawks hit a season-best .355 including a match-best .571 in the first stanza.
 
SEMO jumped out to an 8-2 lead in the first frame. Malloy and Ochs notched consecutive kills to extend the advantage to 16-11.
 
Beasley slammed a kill to push the edge to 20-15.
 
The Redhawks claimed a 1-0 advantage after a 3-0 run, 25-17. The Salukis hit a pair of errors to bookend a block assist by Ochs and Gouard.
 
SEMO then notched a .353 pace in the second frame. The second set featured seven ties and three lead changes.
 
Beasley registered a pair of kills before a block assist from Moylan and Ochs provided the Redhawks a slight 8-7 lead.
 
Greene then tallied a rally stopper before an Ally Dion service ace to make the advantage 15-12 heading into the media timeout.

Ochs and Malloy added kills to sandwich a Salukis error to distance SEMO from SIU, 18-13.
 
The Redhawks utilized a 4-0 run to take a 22-14 lead. Gouard and Malloy each had kills before consecutive aces from Megan Harris. Harris finished the match with a career-best two aces.
 
A block assist from Greene and Moylan brought on set point at 24-16. Moylan then claimed the set with a kill, 25-18.
 
The Redhawks jumped out to an 11-6 lead in the third frame after a 5-0 rally. Greene and Moylan knocked kills before a Kayla Closset ace followed by a block assist from Iowans Greene and Moylan.
 
SEMO continued to widen the margin to 18-7 with a 7-0 run. Greene slammed a kill before three straight aces from Tara Beilsmith.
 
Beilsmith added a fourth ace during the sequence and tied a career-best five aces in the match.
 
SEMO finished the match on a 7-2 run to claim the third set, 25-11. Izzy Lukens placed back-to-back aces after a kill by Malloy and a block assist by Gouard and Greene.
 
Ochs dished out 29 assists with four kills and two blocks.
 
The Redhawks tallied a season-best 12 aces. SEMO previously notched a program-best 17 against Tennessee Tech on Sept. 24, 1994.
 
Beilsmith added 15 digs to complement a career-best matching five aces. Dion, Lukens and Harris each had two while Closset posted one.
 
SEMO out blocked the Salukis, 7-2. Greene had five while Gouard finished with four and Moylan added three.

SIU's head coach was assessed a red card during the second set. 

Head coach Julie Yankus registered her third win over her former school Friday. Yankus served as SIU's associate head coach from 2007-2010.  
 
Looking Ahead
 
SEMO wraps up the 2021 Redhawks Invitational and its non-conference slate Saturday against Central Arkansas. First serve is set for 3 p.m., CT at Houck Field House.