CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - #1 Southeast Missouri (19-10, 15-3 OVC) advanced to the seminfal round of the 2024 Ohio Valley Conference Volleyball Tournament with a 3-1 victory over #8 Tennessee State (10-22, 6-12 OVC) on Sunday evening from Houck Field House.
The Redhawks advanced with scores of 25-21, 16-25, 25-23, and 25-19 to advance to the semifinal round behind 19 kills from
Lucy Arndt. Arndt finished with a .216 hitting-percentage on 51 attacks.
Arndt finished with 16 digs, the second most on the squad, as the OVC First Team selection recorded her 17
thdouble-double of the season.
Rightside hitter
Abby Johnson joined the 1,000 kills club recording 10 kills in the match. Johnson recorded her eighth kill of the match to reach 1,000. She now sits at 1,002 for her career after tonight's match.
As a team, SEMO hit .252 with 61 kills compared to .236 and 53 kills from TSU.
Ramiri Gardner, who returned to the court on Sunday, rounded out the top hitters from the match. Gardner finished with 10 kills, no errors, on 15 total attacks for a .667 hitting-percentage.
SEMO was outhit in just the second set by TSU as the Redhawks started the first set on fire, hitting .382 to just .135 from the Tigers.
Ohio Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Year
Nina Schuberth lived up to her title in Sunday's quarterfinal round. The sophomore finished with a team-high 18 digs and did not record a single reception error on the evening (1.000, 13 attempts).
Freshman
Megan Holder dished out a team-high 27 assists, followed by
Kennedey Johnson with 19 as the duo combined for 46-of-55 assists from SEMO on the night.
The Redhawks won the battle at the net, edging the Tigers in total blocks by a 12-10 advantage. Freshman
Alaina Lester led the team with three block assists and two solo blocks. Six different Redhawks recorded a block in the match.
Looking Ahead
#1 SEMO Volleyball will return to action against the winner of #5 Western Illinois and #4 Morehead State in the final quarterfinal match of the evening. The semifinal match is set for 5:00 P.M., CT. on Monday, November 25, from Houck Field House.
