Match 20 & 21
Eastern Illinois (6-13, 2-7 OVC) vs. Southeast Missouri (9-10, 6-1 OVC)
 
Match Information 
Dates: Thursday-Friday, Oct. 24-25
Times: 6 p.m. & 5 p.m.
Location: Cape Girardeau, Mo. 
Venue: Houck Field House
 
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Live Stats: Match 1 | Match 2
Watch: Match 1 (ESPN+) | Match 2 (ESPN+)
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Media Guide (PDF)
Game Notes (PDF)
 
Redhawks Host Eastern Illinois on Thursday & Friday to Continue OVC Play
Southeast Missouri Volleyball (9-10, 6-1 OVC) carry a two-match win streak into a pair of matches with Eastern Illinois (6-13, 2-7 OVC) on Thursday & Friday, Oct. 24-25, inside Houck Field House. First serve is slated for 6 p.m. & 5 p.m., CT., respectively. 
 
Alumni Weekend
Redhawks Volleyball, who is celebrating the 50^th anniversary of the program in 2024, encourage any & all SEMO volleyball alumni to come back for the weekend series with Eastern Illinois. Friday's match denotes "Alumni Weekend" as festivities and social hour will take place following the conclusion of Friday night's match on the football field behind Houck Field House. For more information on the weekend, click here.

To RSVP to the event and for more additional information on all things happening throughout SEMO athletics, click here. 
 
Series History
The Redhawks and Panthers are two of the longest tenured schools in the Ohio Valley Conference and will meet for the 71^st & 72^nd time(s) this weekend in Cape Girardeau. SEMO leads the overall series 44-25-1 (The tie came all the way back in 1981) with the two sides splitting the regular season matchup in 2023. The Panthers won the first match in Charleston before the Redhawks rallied in the second match to down EIU in five sets. 
 
Last time these two squared off came in the 2023 Ohio Valley Conference Championship match as the Panthers secured a 3-0 victory to win the tournament in Charleston. 
 
Last Time Out
SEMO is coming off a massive weekend in the Ohio Valley Conference after going to Morehead, Kentucky and sweeping Morehead State to improve to 6-1 in the conference. Following the weekend, SEMO is now tied for first place with Lindenwood for the conference's top spot. 
 
The Redhawks got out fast on Friday night with a 3-1 victory over the Eagles by scores of 25-20, 22-25, 25-15, 25-14. On offense, SEMO outhit MSU by nearly .100 with a .232 to .123 advantage. 
 
Lucy Arndt and Abby Johnson each finished with double-digit kills to lead the Redahwks. Arndt with 11 and Johnson with 10 as the Redhawks recorded 50 kills as a team in Friday's match. 
 
SEMO turned right around on Saturday afternoon and outlasted the Eagles in a five-set thriller. The Redhawks won the first two sets 25-14 & 25-23 but MSU would rally for two of their own in sets three and four (25-23, 25-23) to setup a pivotal set five. 
 
Trailing 14-12, the Redhawks closed the match with four straight points with a kill from Arndt, two-straight kills by Abby Johnson, and an attack error from MSU to seal a 16-14 set five win. 
 
Johnson and Arndt led the Redhawks on offense once again finishing with 18 and 14 kills, respectively, as that marks the second-straight match for the duo in double figure kills. 
 
Defensive Player of Week
Sophomore Nina Schuberth picked up Ohio Valley Conference Co-Defensive Player of the Week honors, the league announced Monday afternoon. 
 
Schuberth helped sweep Morehead State over the weekend with a 3-1 and 3-2 victory in Morehead, Kentucky to push SEMO's record to 6-1 in OVC play. 
 
The defensive specialist/libero recorded 67 digs over the two matches which was a 7.44 digs-per-set ratio. She had a weekend best 39 digs in the five-set match on Saturday afternoon. 
 
She totaled 19 total receptions on the weekend without committing a single reception error for a flawless 1.000 reception percentage against the Eagles. 
 
Schuberth, who set the single season record in program history a season ago with 49 aces, finished the weekend with three aces as the Redhawks are now tied for first place in the OVC after seven matches. 
 
The award marks the second of the season for Schuberth and she is the only Redhawk with weekly honors so far in 2024.
 
League Standings
After seven games in the league, the Redhawks are currently tied for first place with Lindenwood (8-1 OVC) with two less games played than the Lions. October 13^th & 14^th, the Redhawks had their built-in bye week. 
 
Little Rock sits in third place (7-2) with a one match lead on fourth place Western Illinois (6-3). Tennessee Tech (5-3), Morehead State (4-4), and Southern Indiana (3-7) make up five, six, and seven in the table. 
 
SIUE (2-5), UT Martin (2-6), Eastern Illinois (2-7), and Tennessee State (1-7) round out the bottom of the league. 
 
200 Club
Sophomore Lucy Arndt and graduate student Abby Johnson have both surpassed 200 kills on the season so far. Arndt, the reigning OVC Freshman of the Year, leads the squad with 219 kills. Johnson follows just behind with 210 kills with a .240 hitting-percentage. Arndt currently ranks 10^th in the OVC in kills. 
 
Service Game
Two Redhawks rank in the top 10 of the conference in service aces as Megan Holder and Nina Schuberth rank third and seventh, respectively. Holder, a freshman from Freeport, Ill., has 29 service aces on the season, just 20 away from the single season record set by Schuberth last season. Nina currently sits at 24 aces on the season and averages 0.32 aces-per-match. 
 
Catch Her at the Net
Freshman Alaina Lester ranks second in the conference with 84 total blocks and a 1.14 block-per-set average. Lester has 69 block assists, 15 solo blocks, and has played four less sets than Taya Nordmann of SIUE who ranks first in the conference. Kelsey Keeve and Taylor Masterson, former Redhawks, rank ninth all-time in block assists for a single season with 90. Lester needs just 31 more to crack the top 10. 
 
Best Gardner in OVC
Middle blocker Ramiri Gardner has been on fire so far in 2024 as she ranks first in the conference in hitting-percentage with a .366 mark. She ranks 54^th in all of NCAA Division I volleyball. On the season, she has 135 kills on 284 attempts with just 31 errors. This season, she has six matches with a .500 hitting-percentage or higher. 
 
Near the Top
Southeast Missouri ranks second in the OVC in service aces. As a team, the Redhawks have recorded 121 aces over 75 sets. SEMO is averaging 1.61 aces-per-set over 75 sets played in 2024. SEMO trails Tennessee Tech who has 117 over just 70 sets played. 
 
Scouting the Opponent
Panthers
Eastern Illinois enters the match with a 6-13 overall record and a 2-7 Ohio Valley Conference mark led by fifth year head coach, Sara Thomas. EIU won both the regular season & OVC Tournament in 2023. 
 
Most recently, EIU split a weekend series with Tennessee Tech in Charleston, Illinois last Friday & Saturday. The Panthers won the first match 3-1 before dropping the next one, 3-0. 
 
EIU on offense is led by four attackers who have over 100 kills on the season, led by Kaitlyn Flynn with 167. Lilli Amettis (116), Katie Kopshever (108), and Destiny Walker (105) round out the top four Panther attackers. 
 
The offense is ran through a pair of setters in Sylvia Hasz and Catalina Rochaix. The duo has 323 and 201 assists, respectively. Paige Gardella has an even 100 assists on the season as EIU has a .177 team hitting-percentage in 2024. 
Defensivley, the backline is patrolled by Laura Paniagua who has a team-high 185 digs. Ireland Hieb controls the net as she has totaled 58.0 total blocks on the season.