CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Southeast Missouri volleyball (1-0) opened the 2023 season Friday morning with a 3-0 sweep of Evansville (0-1) at Houck Field House. 
 
The Redhawks won 26-24, 26-24, 25-23 for the first victory of the season behind 12 kills from Marisa Guisti and 35 assists from setter Izzy Lukens. 
 
Guisti, a transfer from Butler, made her first start in a Redhawks jersey Friday morning and led the team with 12 kills and a .364 hitting percentage. 
 
Lukens, the senior from Omaha, Nebraska, registered 35 assists on 97 attempts for a .361 percentage. 
 
The Redhawks and Evansville played over the 25-point limit in the first two sets as the Redhawks came back in both sets. 
 
The match featured 31 ties and 18 lead changes in a back-and-forth contest in a match that lasted two hours and three minutes. 
 
Freshman Lucy Arndt made her first career start in her first collegiate match as she finished with the second most kills on the team with 11. 
 
Kaelyn O'Brien and Zoey Beasley were in the starting lineup and chipped in nine kills on 26 attempts a piece to help power SEMO to the first victory of the season. 
 
Guisti, Arndt, O'Brien and Beasley were responsible for 41 of 77 total Redhawks points. 
 
Guisti and Arndt were also active on the defensive side of the net with three solo blocks and five block assists between the two. 
 
Evansville held an 11-7 block advantage over SEMO. 
 
SEMO hit .176 overall as a team in the first match of 2023 as Evansville hit at a .193-mark. 
 
The Redhawks will be back in action this evening at 7 p.m. when they take on Central Michigan from the Mid-American Conference.