CARBONDALE, Ill. – Southeast Missouri volleyball (3-8) dropped Saturday afternoon's match to Southern Illinois (8-4) by a final score of 3-2. 

SEMO, who won the first and third sets, fell 25-18, 21-25, 25-19, 23-25, and 8-15 in the fifth set. 
 
Three Redhawks in Lucy Arndt, Marin Johnson, and Abby Johnson all finished with double-digit kills led by Arndt and Abby Johnson who recorded 16 kills each. Marin Johnson finished with 12 kills. 
 
Megan Holder dished out a career-best 34 assists as the Redhawks hit .191 as a team in the five-set loss. 
 
The Redhawks got out of the gate fast with the first four points of the match going the way of SEMO thanks to a pair of kills from Lucy Arndt and an Abby Johnson kill to make it 4-0 in the opening frame. 
 
The Redhawks forced two early SIU timeouts after leading 4-0 and 8-1 early in the set. Their biggest lead in the opening set was following an ace from Arndt to make it 20-11. SIU got as close as 23-18, but the Redhawks closed out the first set with an Arndt kill and a SIU error. 
 
SEMO hit .265 in the opening set, including six kills from Arndt. Conversely, SIU hit just .081 in the first, including eight attack errors. 
 
To start the second set, the Redhawks jumped out to another 8-1 lead after kills from Marin and Abby Johnson, a pair of blocks by Alaina Lester and Ramiri Gardner, and an ace from Nina Schuberth gave SEMO a seven-point advantage.
 
SEMO led by as many as nine (11-2) in the frame, but the Salukis wouldn't go away. The Salukis would use a 9-3 run to get back into the game and trailed 13-10 after a block from Eva Krakowski. 
 
The Redhawks would tie it at 17 apiece late in the frame but could never regain the lead as SIU closed on an 8-4 run to take the second set, 25-21. 
 
SIU outhit SEMO in the second set by a .275 to .143 advantage to tie the match at a set each. 
 
The Redhawks jumped back out to a 7-1 lead to start the third set, starting the set with their third consecutive 4-0 lead as well beginning with a Megan Holder ace and back-to-back kills from Abby Johnson and Lester. 
 
SIU would trim the six-point deficit to just three points after a block by Eva Krakowski made it 9-6 SEMO. 
 
Following a timeout from SEMO with the Redhawks winning 18-17, SEMO would close the set on a 7-2 run thanks to back-to-back aces from Ramiri Gardner and was capped off by Lucy Arndt's 15^th kill. The Redhawks won the third set, 25-19 and led the match 2-1 after three. 
 
 SEMO got out to their fourth 7-1 lead of the match to start the fourth set as back-to-back Abby Johnson kills forced SIU into an early timeout in set four. 
 
SIU would not go away quietly, winning the fourth set 25-23, including closing the fourth set on a 3-0 scoring run to force a decisive fifth set. 
 
The Salukis used a .364 hitting-percentage to SEMO's .136 to take the fifth set, 15-8, and the match 3-2. 
 
Looking Ahead
SEMO Volleyball will return to action to begin Ohio Valley Conference play next Friday and Saturday at Southern Indiana.