Southeast Missouri State volleyball drops conference semifinal to Morehead State

With an NCAA Tournament berth on the line, Morehead State rebounded from a first-set loss to claim a 3-1 victory over Southeast Missouri State in the Ohio Valley Conference semifinals.

SEMO got out to a big lead in the third set to nearly build a 2-1 lead, but a deep rally from the visiting Eagles gave the tournament-hosting Redhawks a ride and kept them from staking victory on their home floor.

With the winner getting the OVC’s automatic tournament berth with Lindenwood in the transition process on the other side of the championship bracket, it seemed like the stakes were just a pinch higher as Morehead State crept out with the victory.

“Any loss is tough,” Redhawks coach Julie Yankus said. “You take a team that’s been amazing all season, all the newcomers we have, and you listen to the starting lineup, it’s like, ‘Freshman, sophomore, freshman, freshman,’ it’s hard to put into words how hard they’ve worked to get here.

“Even though we lost, I’m still so proud of this team and proud of the season we had.”

The win improves Morehead State’s overall record to 18-13 for the year after finishing 12-6 in conference play. The Eagles now are on a winning streak of six games heading into the Ohio Valley Conference championship match with Lindenwood on Tuesday night.

The loss drops SEMO’s record to 19-13 to finish the year, with final splits of 8-1 at home, 7-7 on the road and 4-5 on neutral sites, ending the year as regular-season conference champions with a 15-3 record, which Yankus lauded in her final interview following the loss.

The youth Yankus touched on is a driving point on how the Redhawks are set to improve in the future, and it’s apparent the sun isn’t setting on this squad just yet as it looks to run it back in the OVC next season.

But that youth cost the Redhawks heavily Monday night, with countless unforced errors and miscommunications being a large reason why Southeast dropped the third and fourth sets in the end.

Yankus hopes that Monday’s loss will be a teaching point for this young squad, exciting of the results of this year and anticipating that next season will largely reflect the improvements and successes of this one.

“The sky is the limit with this group,” Yankus began.

“With all that youth that so many coming back; we’ve got a great recruiting class. I really feel like the future is really bright, so they’re only gonna get better.”

The SEMO crowd, and the Redhawks themselves, got turned up quickly, with a service ace from Lucy Arndt emphasizing a 4-1 run to start the first set.

But Amelia Nott and Maycie Welborn of Morehead State had a loud response to this, with a huge block to knot it back up at 5-all before a Sydney Wyman slam got the back in it at 7-all just moments later.

SEMO began to pull away late in the set, getting a second timeout from coach Krysten Becker-McBride after going up 23-19, which seemed to work as the Eagles rallied all the way back to tie the set at 23.

The work paid off for the Redhawks, however, as, after a Yankus timeout, they got the final two points to claim the first set off a shared block between Marin Johnson and Ramiri Gardner.

An early second-set rally put the Eagles up by four, and that number stuck around for the majority of the opening phases of the set before a Morehead State challenge interrupted the flow.

Yankus issued her first timeout of the second set to talk things over while down 15-10, and it paid quick dividends as Becker-McBride took a break of her own after Abby Johnson slammed home a kill to cut the deficit to 17-15.

That rally eventually cut the deficit all the way down to one point, but Morehead State’s late push allowed it to surge back in front and end the set with a 25-22 victory after a Johnson kill attempt barely crept out the back of the defensive zone.

The Redhawks got out to a quick lead in the third set after a service ace from Megan Holder and a following kill from Johnson. And Morehead State needed to talk it over down 15-10.

Up 17-11, SEMO looked to be in control before a run from the Eagles pushed it to a three-point deficit, forcing Yankus to take her squad off the floor after a Welborn kill.

But, for the first time, the timeout didn’t seem to help much as Morehead State continued its run, storming out to a 21-20 lead after trailing by six, which forced Yankus’ hand into a second timeout after seemingly having the third set in control.

After Yankus’ first timeout, the Eagles finished on a 9-1 run in which the Redhawks hardly challenged at the net. The SEMO coach took a seat on the bench for the final rally of the third set, visibly upset with how the Redhawks fell into a 2-1 hole.

The fourth set looked to be a strong one for the Redhawks as they built a 4-2 lead and finally challenged at the net, but that confidence and dominance slipped away fast as the Eagles again marched out and took a 9-5 lead to force yet another Yankus timeout.

Just when the Eagles started making unforced errors, the miscommunications and equal errors from the Southeast Missouri State side kept the Redhawks from cutting back into the lead, with another timeout taken at 16-10.

For the first time in about a set’s time, however, SEMO finally got some wind under its wings. Down six, the Redhawks fought back to a 19-17 game after an error from the Eagles off a Holder set, and Becker-McBride needed a timeout for the first time in seemingly ages.

At 20-all, Morehead State again used a timeout after a kill from Arndt caused the room to explode to its loudest volume of the night.

It took win-by-two, a handful of challenges and a lot of luck, but Morehead State barely snuck by to claim the fourth set 27-25 on an M.E. Hargan kill to end the night with a 3-1 Eagles victory.

Irene Wogenstahl lead the Eagles with 21 kills in the victory, while Maycie Welborn’s 20 finished just behind her.

SEMO’s Lucy Arndt had 19 kills placing her first for the team, while Johnson’s 13 finished runner-up for the Redhawks.

Arndt also added four aces in the serving game, with Kennedey Johnson and Holder each adding two service aces, while Amelia Nott of Morehead State lead the Eagles with two.

Johnson tied Alaina Lester for the lead with four blocks each among the Redhawks, while Nott and Sydney Wyman recorded seven and four blocks, respectively, to lead the Eagles.

Holder finished with a game-high 27 assists for SEMO, while Sydney Sennett (25) and Brenna Bommer (24) split playmaking duties for the Eagles, combining for 49 assists in the victory.

Nina Schuberth’s 30 digs ended as a game-high count, with both Johnson and Arndt logging 17 behind her, while Peighton Isley’s 23 led the Eagles.