Match #30
#2 Southeast Missouri (20-9, 12-6 OVC)        
vs. #7 Western Illinois (9-20, 8-10 OVC) 
Match Information
Date: Monday, Nov. 20, 2023
First Serve: 4:00 p.m.
Location: Charleston, Ill.
Venue: Lantz Arena
All-Time Series: SEMO leads the All-Time series 11-2
Last Meetings: At Home | Cape Girardeau, Mo. | W, 3-1, Nov. 4, 2023
Live Stats: Sidearm Sports
Live Video: ESPN+
 
#2 Redhawks set for 2023 OVC Tournament Monday Versus #7 Western Illinois
#2-seeded Southeast Missouri volleyball (20-9, 12-6 OVC) will turn its sights to the 2023 Ohio Valley Conference Tournament on Monday, Nov. 20, when they take on #7 Western Illinois in Charleston, Ill. First serve is slated for 4 p.m., CT. from Lantz Arena. 
 
Tournament History
The 2023 OVC Tournament will be hosted by #1 seed Eastern Illinois. The Redhawks have a 4-1 record in tournament games held in Charleston. The last time the Redhawks competed in the tournament held at EIU came back in 2005. 
 
SEMO has an overall record of 33-21 in the OVC Tournament's history having won the tournament seven times, the last coming in 2021 in Cape Girardeau. 
 
Series History
Following the 2023 regular season, SEMO currently holds an 11-2 record all-time against the Leathernecks. Monday's tournament matchup will mark the first of its kind as WIU joined the OVC this season. 
 
The Redhawks swept the regular season series with WIU by final scores of 3-2 and 3-1. The Leathernecks are the last team SEMO beat in the regular season. 
 
Tara the Defender
Tara Beilsmith was selected as the Ohio Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Week for her efforts against Lindenwood on Wednesday and Thursday, the league announced Sunday afternoon. 
 
The libero from Weldon Spring, Mo. received the weekly honor for the fifth time this season and the second time in the month of November as the league will shift to the postseason conference tournament beginning on Monday (11/20). 
 
Beilsmith finished last week with 77 digs over the final two matches of the season against the Lions. In Wednesday's match she finished with 37 digs and followed it up with a 40-dig performance in Thursday's match. 
 
Tara was rock solid on the SEMO defensive unit as she played all nine sets without committing a reception error over 35 total attempts.
 
Last Matchup with Leathernecks
The Redhawks last met Western Illinois on November 3-4 as SEMO earned two grueling victories over WIU at Houck Field House in Cape Girardeau. 
 
Friday's match featured a five-set thriller that saw the Leathernecks and Redhawks go the distance as SEMO won the match 26-24, 21-25, 25-17, 25-22, 15-11 led by freshman Lucy Arndt's career-high 34 kills. 
 
Three Redhawks finished in double-digit kills including Arndt, Marisa Guisti, and Zoey Beasley. Guisti finished the night with 20 kills on 49 attempts for a .367 hitting-percentage. Beasley, the outside hitter from Paragould, Ark., finished with a season-high 17 kills and a .208 hitting-percentage. 
 
Senior setter Izzy Lukens set a new career-high in assists after dishing out 69 Friday night, leading SEMO to an overall team hitting percentage of .264. 
 
Lukens set her new personal-best by clearing her season-high of 52 by 17 as the Redhawks hit .241, .244, .486, .125, and .385 over the duration of the five sets, respectively. 
 
Tara Beilsmith was all over the court defensively for the Redhawks finishing with 39 digs and a perfect 1.000 reception percentage over 46 attempts. 
 
Trailing 5-2 early in the fifth set, Lucy Arndt slammed a cross-court shot that was ruled out. A SEMO challenge reversed the call to make it 5-3, instead of 6-2. 
 
The Redhawks would use the momentum from the challenge into the rest of the set as SEMO finished with a .385 hitting-percentage in the fifth set alone. 
 
Saturday's contest saw SEMO win in four sets to complete the first ever OVC matchup with Western Illinois by a 25-22, 20-25, 25-22, 25-14 margin on senior day. 
 
Libero Tara Beilsmith continued to break records as during Saturday's match she became fourth all-time in NCAA Volleyball history in career digs, surpassing the previous fourth place 2,791 record. 
 
Tara now has 2,832 digs for her career after finishing Saturday's match with 48 digs and a .944 reception-percentage, committing just one error on 17 attempts. 
 
Saturday's match marked senior day for nine Redhawks seniors as Talia Gouard, Tara Beilsmith, Mackenzie Meehan, Rachel Eddy, Izzy Lukens, Marisa Guisti, Zoey & Taylor Beasley, and Lexie Smith were all honored in a pre-match ceremony. 
 
Freshman Lucy Arndt finished with a double double. The standout, Freeport, Ill.-native finished with 19 kills and 15 digs from her outside hitter position. She finished the match with 20.0 points on Saturay. 
 
Izzy Lukens finished with another stellar performance, dishing out 56 assists on 140 attempts (.400). The senior from Omaha, Neb. Finished the weekend with a total of 125 assists over nine sets. SEMO, as a team, hit .238. 
 
Seniors Zoey Beasley and Marisa Guisti each finished in double-digits for kills with 14 and 13, respectively. 
 
Beasley had her 14 kills on 43 attempt for a .163 hitting-percentage (seven errors) as Guisti finished with her 13 kills on 25 attempts for a staggering .520 hitting clip. 
 
Third in the Ohio Valley Conference in service aces coming into the weekend, freshman Nina Schuberth finished the match with a pair of aces to lead the Redhawks in the category. 
 
Senior Lexie Smith entered the match in the fourth set recording two kills, including the decisive one as SEMO dominated the fourth set to win the match. Smith finished with two kills on three attempts on senior day.  
 
Scouting The Opponent
Western Illinois
The Leathernecks head to Charleston coming off a 2-3 loss to Eastern Illinois. Western Illinois had a hitting percentage of .185 with 52 total kills.
 
Against Western Illinois, Maggie Craker and Keyana Cruse recorded double-doubles. Craker had 39 assists 12 digs while Cruse registered 17 kills and 21 digs.
 
Grace Nichols notched five blocking assists and one solo block. The Leathernecks had 13 blocking assists and three solo blocks during the game.
 
Junior Keyana Cruse led the Leathernecks in kills this season and was sixth in the OVC with 379 kills (3.45 K/S) hitting .207 on the season. Cruse also had 342 digs and 65 total blocks this year.
 
Setter Maggie Craker and Karli Wenzel led the team in assists and digs this season. Cracker recorded 1021 assist (8.73 A/S) for fifth best in the OVC and Wenzel had 490 digs (4.22 D/S) for sixth best in the conference.
 
At the net, Julianna Schmidt had the most blocks on the team with 23 solo blocks, 78 blocking assists, and 101 total blocks (0.94 B/S). 
 
As a team this season Western Illinois recorded 1307 kills (11.17 K/S), 2003 digs (17.12 D/S), 1195 assists (10.21 A/S). The Leathernecks had a season hitting percentage of .183 and notched 250 total blocks this year.