CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Southeast Missouri women's volleyball (8-9, 3-2 OVC) fell to Eastern Illinois (11-8, 5-1 OVC), 23-25, 19-25, 24-26, Friday night in its Ohio Valley Conference series opener at Houck Field House.
 
Kaelyn O'Brien led the SEMO offense with a career best 12 kills, 16 assists and eight digs on a .409 hitting percentage. The double-double marked the seventh of the season for O'Brien, a redshirt junior from Woodbridge, Virginia. 
 
Kayla Closset chipped in 10 kills with six digs and two aces.
 
The opening set Friday was highly contested, featuring 16 tie score lines and six lead changes. 
 
Consecutive kills from O'Brien and Mackenzie Meehan provided a slight SEMO edge at 10-8. The Redhawks then had a 15-14 lead at the media stoppage. 
 
The Panthers responded with three straight points to switch the lead to EIU, 17-15. 
 
A kill from Izzy Lukens coupled with an ace by Closset evened the set at 18-18. 
 
O'Brien tallied a rally stopper for a 20-20 tie in the period.
 
A block assist from Ramiri Gardner and Colby Greene then cut the deficit to one (23-22). 
 
Ireland Hieb registered back-to-back kills for EIU to make the score 23-21 in favor of the visitors. 
 
Giovana Larregui Lopez then closed the frame with a pair of kills, 25-23. 
 
The Panthers hit .279 in the opening set while SEMO had a match best .196. 
 
Zoey Beasley had five kills in the first set while O'Brien (.667) and Closset each had four. 
 
The Panthers then commenced the second stanza leading 4-1 that increased to 6-2.
 
A 4-0 Redhawks run then pulled SEMO ahead, 10-9. O'Brien had a pair of kills before teaming up with fellow DMV (District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia) native Meehan for a block during the sequence. 
 
EIU would then lead 15-13 before their margin grew to 18-14 after a 3-0 rally. 
 
SEMO cut the deficit to two (18-16 and 20-18) before the Panthers increased their lead to 2-0, ending the frame on a 5-1 run (25-19). 
 
Closset slammed a pair of rally stoppers to make the score 18-16 before O'Brien registered a kill followed by a Tara Beilsmith ace, made the scoreboard read 20-18. 
 
O'Brien posted six kills during set #2 on a .500 clip. The Panthers hit a match best .361 during the middle set Friday. 
 
Trailing 2-0 in the match, SEMO opened the third frame with an 8-3 advantage that the Panthers erased at 10-10. 
 
A kill from Beasley coupled with a Closset and Gardner block assist put the Redhawks back on top at 15-12. 
 
SEMO then increased its edge to 18-14 after a Panther miscue. 
 
Meehan and O'Brien teamed up for consecutive winners before a Beasley kill made the Redhawks lead 22-19. 
 
The Panthers responded by scoring seven of the nine final points to claim the match, 26-24. Gardner blasted a kill from the middle blocker position for a 23-22 SEMO lead and a Greene rally stopper evened the set up at 24-24. 
 
Beasley finished with nine kills while Meehan added four kills (.267) and a pair of blocks.
 
Lukens dished out 17 assists with eight digs and a personal best three kills.
 
Gardner and Greene both each collected two blocks and two digs.
 
Beilsmith grabbed a match-high 28 digs with four assists and a kill. It marked her fourth-straight 25-plus dig match. 
 
SEMO led the aces category, 4-0, but was out blocked by the Panthers, 8-4. 
 
Lopez led EIU with a match-best 15 kills and 12 digs while Kaitlyn Flynn had 10 kills and 14 digs. 
 
Catalina Rochaix totaled 22 assists and eight digs as the Panthers hit .279 over the match. SEMO in comparison finished with a clip of .170. 
 
Summerlyn Smith totaled 19 assists and eight digs. 
 
Libero Christina Martinez Mundo had 16 digs and four assists. 
 
The win marked the first for Eastern Illinois over SEMO since Oct. 6, 2017. The Redhawks had previously won the last 10 matches between the two institutions before Friday's loss. 
 
SEMO wraps the home series with the Panthers Saturday evening. First service is 7 p.m., CT at Houck Field House. Fans receive free admission to Saturday's volleyball match with a SEMO Football ticket.