SEMO homecoming celebration starts with volleyball victory

The Southeast Missouri State women’s volleyball team defeated the Eastern Illinois Panthers three sets to zero on Thursday at Houck Field House.

The Redhawks have now won six conference matches in a row and are currently second in the Ohio Valley Conference behind Lindenwood.

The first set started rough for SEMO as the Panthers took a 5-0 early lead. The Redhawks battled back to take a 15-14 advantage, forcing EIU into a timeout. SEMO did not slow down and won the first set 25-20, outscoring the Panthers 25-15 after the early deficit.

The Redhawks held the lead for the majority of the second and third sets to take the match.

SEMO head coach Julie Yankus said the match was won because of different players stepping up and the whole team continuing to fight even if it was behind in the first set.

“Abby Johnson made some big swings and carried us in sets one and two, and then Lucy (Arndt) came alive and helped us in three. We love to have everybody stepping up. I would love them all at the same moment, but it was great to see different people contributing throughout the match,” Yankus said. “I’m proud of our perseverance in general after we started down 5-0. I think we loved having all the fans here. It was amazing. But I don't know if we got a little in our head about it, but then we wound up winning by five in that first set. I think that was a big shift, so proud of us staying the course and working through that deficit.”

At 7-1 in the OVC, the Redhawks are two games behind Lindenwood simply because of the Lions playing more conference matches. With the top six teams separated by just five games, there is time for anything to happen and, as Yankus said, you cannot predict this conference.

“This year in the OVC, it's completely different than last year. It's all new teams and, the thing is, you just don't know who's gonna win night to night. The OVC, in general, is a hard conference to guess who's winning certain matches,” Yankus said. “That’s not just with the teams at the top of the standing. It’s also with whoever is technically the bottom couple of teams. They're really not, the record shows it, but they're definitely a team that can come and make a run. I think at the end of the season, it's going to be tiebreaker city.”

The Redhawks were back in action against the Panthers again Friday.