Redhawks Drop UNI Tournament Opener to Grand Canyon in Five Sets Friday

Friday, September 9

Cedar Falls, Iowa

4:30 p.m.

Southeast Missouri State University

3-4,0-0OVC

Grand Canyon

6-1,0-0WAC

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
Southeast Mo. St.	25	19	25	21	8	2
Grand Canyon	18	25	23	25	15	3

Photo by: Jan Salmon

9/9/2022 8:35:00 PM | Volleyball, Volleyball, Volleyball

Box Score Final Statistics (PDF)

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – Southeast Missouri women's volleyball (3-4) dropped a 3-2 decision (25-18, 19-25, 25-23, 21-25, 8-15) to Grand Canyon (6-1) Friday to commence play at the 2022 Northern Iowa Tournament at the McLeod Center.

Colby Greene, a graduate rightside hitter from North Liberty, Iowa, paced the Redhawks attack with 14 kills and four blocks, competing in her home state for the first time as a collegiate athlete.

Zoey Beasley added 11 kills, four digs, and three blocks while Addy McAleer chipped in 10 rally stoppers and nine digs.

Trailing 2-1 in the match, the Lopes responded with a 25-21 fourth stanza to knot the match at 2-2 and force a decisive fifth set.

GCU jumped out to a 6-2 advantage in the final frame which SEMO erased with a 4-0 run.

The Lopes then added a 4-0 rally of their own to pull ahead 10-6.

Greene slammed a kill to cut the deficit to 10-7 before four-straight points from Grand Canyon brought on match point (14-7).

McAleer added a kill before GCU claimed the match, 15-8, after a winner by Sydney Reed.

The Lopes hit .421 in the final set and finished the match with a .147 clip. SEMO in comparison hit at a rate of .082 over the five sets.

The Redhawks opened the Tournament with a 25-18 opening period. SEMO knocked a match-best .225 out of the gates Friday.

SEMO commenced the match with a 9-4 advantage and went to the media stoppage up 15-12. A 4-0 rally then widened the Redhawks margin to 19-14.

Lexie Smith and McAleer then hit consecutive kills to start a 4-0 rally that also featured a second rally stopper from Smith and an ace from Kaelyn O'Brien to make it set point (24-16).

Avery Torrey notched a kill to provide the Redhawks an early 1-0 edge after a 25-18 first set.

GCU then stormed out to an 8-1 lead in the second set that grew to 11-5.

The Lopes added a 6-1 swing to extend their edge to 20-13 and evened the match at 2-2 with a 25-19 second stanza.

The third set was a back and forth affair that featured 10 ties and seven lead changes.

Ramiri Gardner and Beasley teamed up for consecutive block assists to make the score 13-9 in favor of the Redhawks.

A pair of GCU errors then put SEMO up 15-10 at the media timeout.

Smith notched a kill before an O'Brien ace for an 18-15 Redhawk lead.

The Lopes then tallied a 5-0 run to pull ahead 20-18. Down the stretch, the third set would see ties at 20-20, 21-21 and 22-22.

Grand Canyon then committed a pair of errors for set point (24-22). McKenzie Wise hit a kill before Greene increased the Redhawks lead to 2-1 after a 25-23 third set.

In the fourth set, GCU knotted things at 18-18 after a pair of kills from Megan Taflinger.

The Lopes then utilized a 6-1 rally for set point at 24-20 before evening the match at 2-2 (25-21).

Izzy Lukens dished out 26 assists with 11 digs for her third double-double in 2022.

O'Brien added 14 assists with a personal best 10 digs and three aces in her first career start as a Redhawk. The redshirt junior transfer setter from Woodbridge, Virginia, made her return to the SEMO lineup after suffering an injury during the opening weekend of the season.

Tara Beilsmith, the reigning back-to-back Ohio Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Week, led the Redhawks with a season best 33 digs and seven assists.

Kayla Closset grabbed a career high 18 digs.

Gardner, a freshman middle blocker from St. Peters, Missouri, made her first career start Friday, finishing with a career high seven kills (.438), three blocks and a dig.

Smith notched four blocks with six kills.

Taflinger posted a match high 19 kills and 13 digs while Wise added 17 kills and 21 digs. Klaire Mitchell dished out 44 assists with 19 digs.

SEMO next wraps up its stay at the UNI Tournament Saturday with a doubleheader against Northern Iowa and Western Michigan. Match times are set for 12 p.m., CT and 5 p.m., respectively, Saturday at the McLeod Center.