CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Southeast Missouri women's volleyball (8-10, 3-3 OVC) fell to Ohio Valley Conference leader, Eastern Illinois (12-8, 6-1 OVC), 20-25, 17-25, 20-25, Saturday evening in the series finale at Houck Field House.
 
Kayla Closset paced the Redhawks with 13 kills and seven digs, hitting at a rate of .265. Zoey Beasley chipped in nine rally stoppers.
 
Eastern Illinois jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the match and grew its advantage to 10-6 and then 15-10 at the media stoppage. 
 
A 4-0 run by the Redhawks that featured kills from Beasley and Closset coupled with an Addy McAleer service ace cut the edge to 16-15. 
 
Closset added another kill followed by a Panthers error to even the frame at 17-17. 
 
EIU rallied off five straight points for a 22-17 lead that SEMO whittled to 23-20 after a Closset kill. 
 
Closset, a junior outside hitter from Naperville, Illinois, had five kills in the first set on a .357 clip.
 
The Panthers then grabbed the opening stanza, 25-20. 
 
EIU increased its lead in the match to 2-0 with a 25-17 second period. The Panthers hit a match-high .324 during set #2 and finished the match hitting .212. 
 
EIU commenced the second set with a 9-4 lead that increased to 18-8 after a 7-1 run. 
 
A kill from Closset followed by a setting error from the Panthers made the score 22-15.
 
SEMO fended off set point twice before the Panthers grabbed the frame, 25-17. Ramiri Gardner knocked a kill after an EIU service error. 
 
The Redhawks had their best set of the match in the second, finishing with .172. SEMO concluded the match with a hitting percentage of .080. 
 
The Panthers opened the third set with a 7-3 advantage that grew to 17-10 after a 6-1 rally. 
 
SEMO responded with a 5-0 run to chip the deficit to 17-15. Closset had a pair of kills during the sequence while Mackenzie Meehan and Avery Torrey combined for two blocks. Meehan also had a kill during the run and finished Saturday with five blocks. 
 
Torrey paced the Redhawks Saturday with a career-best matching six blocks. 
 
Eastern Illinois then utilized a 6-2 swing to widen the gap to 23-17.
 
Lexie Smith and Meehan teamed up for a block to make the score 23-19 before the Panthers claimed the match, 25-20. 
 
Kaelyn O'Brien passed out 14 assists with four digs. Izzy Lukens added 12 assists and three digs. 
 
Tara Beilsmith registered a match-high 28 digs for the second-straight match. It marked her fifth-straight 25-plus dig match.
 
Giovana Larregui Lopez paced EIU with 16 kills and nine digs while Kaitlyn Flynn (13 kills and 11 digs on a .385) and Lilli Amettis followed (12 kills on a .556).
 
Catalina Rochaix tallied 16 assists and seven digs while Summerlyn Smith added 14 assists and nine digs. 
 
Libero Christina Martinez Mundo grabbed 18 digs. 
 
SEMO out blocked EIU, 10-3. 
 
The win for the Panthers marked their first regular-season series sweep of Southeast Missouri since 2010 (Oct. 22 in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and Nov. 2 in Charleston, Illinois), also both 3-0 sweeps. 
 
SEMO completes its three-match homestand Monday with its home-and-home series opener with travel partner and OVC newcomer Little Rock. First service is set for 6 p.m., CT Monday night at Houck Field House.