CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Kayla Closset registered a double-double of 12 kills and 10 digs on a .500 hitting percentage while
Zoey Beasley added 11 rally stoppers with six digs on a .333 clip as Southeast Missouri women's volleyball (9-10, 4-3 OVC) swept Little Rock (3-17, 0-7 OVC), 25-17, 25-23, 25-18, Monday evening at Houck Field House.
Monday marked the first contest between the two institutions as members of the Ohio Valley Conference and the first matchup in the home-and-home series between the two travel partners.
SEMO and Little Rock will wrap the regular-season series Oct. 18 in Little Rock, Arkansas.
The first set opened with both teams swapping the lead and looking for traction.
Leading 9-8, the Redhawks went on a 5-0 run to pull ahead 14-8. Beasley and
Kaelyn O'Brien both had kills while
Tara Beilsmith registered an ace.
A kill from Closset extended the margin to 17-11. She added another winner before a Trojan miscue for a 20-13 edge.
Little Rock would come as close as 21-17 before SEMO secured the first frame with four-straight points, 25-17.
Izzy Lukens notched a kill from Beasley before a
Ramiri Gardner solo block.
SEMO hit a match-high .387 in set #1 Monday. Closset posted five kills on a .714 while O'Brien and Beasley each chipped in three.
The Redhawks then went up early in the second stanza, 6-4, after a 3-0 rally.
Lukens added an ace for a 10-6 advantage after kills by
Colby Greene and O'Brien.
The Trojans would then even the set at 13-13 after three-straight points and have a 15-14 edge at the media stoppage.
The Redhawks widened the gap to 19-15 after a 5-0 rally that featured a pair of block assists by Greene and
Mackenzie Meehan.
Meehan added three of her four (.500) second-set kills down the stretch for 20-18, 21-20, and 22-21 leads. The Crofton, Maryland, native, totaled five kills and two blocks Monday while Greene finished with five kills and three blocks.
O'Brien and Closset (.300) each also had four kills in the second set.
Kills from Laure Jansen and Gabrielle Spankus provided the Trojans a 23-22 lead before three unanswered points by SEMO sealed the set (25-23). Gardner and Greene concluded the frame with a huge block assist.
Little Rock had their best set of the day, hitting .273 in the second.
SEMO then utilized a 3-0 run to even the third period at 10-10 and prompt a Trojan timeout.
The Redhawks continued to distanced themselves from Little Rock extending their rally to 10-0 rally, 17-10. Beasley connected on consecutive kills before three-straight service aces from Beilsmith. Gardner and Beasley then combined for a block assist before a Beasley kill wrapped the sequence.
Spankus cut the deficit to 23-18 with a kill before SEMO claimed the match, 25-18.
Beasley had seven kills on a .467 rate in the final set Monday.
Lukens totaled 18 assists and seven digs with two kills and an ace. O'Brien chipped in 16 assists, eight kills and five digs. The Redhawks finished with a hitting percentage of .269.
Beilsmith, the reigning back-to-back OVC Defensive Player of the Week, registered 25 digs with seven assists and four aces Monday. She has now registered 25 or more digs, in each of SEMO's last six matches.
Addy McAleer added six digs with an ace.
Jansen paced LR with 12 kills and 15 digs. Spankus totaled 33 assists and 10 digs.
SEMO led the aces category, 6-1, while the Trojans had a slight 8-7 edge in blocks.
With the win, the Redhawks halted their losing streak at two matches and picked up their third 3-0 sweep in OVC play.
Monday completed SEMO's homestand of three matches in a four-day stretch.
The Redhawks next continue their league slate at OVC newcomer Southern Indiana this weekend (Oct. 14-15) in Evansville, Indiana.
