TUESDAY'S SCORES
Seattle 3,
@Eastern Kentucky 1 (25-13, 25-16, 19-25, 25-17)
@Southern Illinois 3,
Southeast Missouri 2 (20-25, 25-21, 21-25, 25-17, 15-13)
SEATTLE 3, EASTERN KENTUCKY 1
RICHMOND, Ky. - Cassie Knutson, Celina Sanks and Ciera Koons each notched seven kills in the Eastern Kentucky University volleyball loss to Seattle University on Tuesday night at McBrayer Arena.
EKU dropped the match by scores of: 13-25, 16-25, 25-19 and 17-25.
The Redhawks jumped out to early leads in the first two sets, which they maintained with hot-hitting outside hitters. SU hit clips of .321 and .345 in the sets.
Rachel Woody drew first blood in the third set with a kill, a Seattle error then made the score 2-0, EKU. The teams exchanged points for most of the set but a service error from Seattle sparked a 4-1 EKU run, giving the Colonels a 17-12 advantage. SU made multiple cuts into the lead, but back-to-back kills from Sanks and Lauren Kolenik gave Eastern Kentucky it’s largest lead of the night, 24-18. Kolenik struck again to end the set, 25-19.
Seattle opened up the fourth set on an 8-2 run to blow open the lead. The duo of Kaylin Johnson and Koons tried to close the gap with kills but were unable to stifle the Redhawks. EKU committed a total of eight errors in the set to push SU over the top, taking the match, 25-17.
Koons notched five blocks on the night and Johnson tallied four.
Knutson (11) and Woody (18) were both in double-figures with a combined total of 29 assists.
EKU drops to 2-9 on the season while Seattle improves to 3-7.
The Colonels will be back in action this weekend at the Panther Challenge hosted by the University of Pittsburgh. First serve is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. against Cleveland State on Friday.
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS 3, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 2
CARBONDALE, Ill. -Southeast Missouri women's volleyball (5-6) dropped a five-set thriller to regional rival, Southern Illinois (1-7), 3-2, Tuesday night at SIU Arena.
The Redhawks won the first and third sets with the hosting Salukis taking sets two and four to force a fifth set.
Sophomore outside hitter Mikayla Kuhlmann posted a career-high 20 kills to lead the SEMO offense. Krissa Gearring chipped in 13 kills and Nzingha Clarke added 12.
Setter Keegan Fornoff notched 31 assists and Allie Henkelman added 20.
Defensively, Gearring and Emily Boggetto each totaled 15 digs.