Ohio Valley Conference

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Southeast Missouri State (10-6, 3-1 OVC) rallied after dropping the first set to defeat Tennessee Tech (5-11, 2-2 OVC) in a four-set match, winning 21-25, 25-23, 25-21, 25-20 at the Eblen Center on Friday.

Tennessee Tech took an early 3-0 lead with a kill by Alayna Pierce and a service ace by MK Roberts. Southeast Missouri State responded with a service ace from Bella Powell, leveling the score at 3-3. A series of strong plays, including a service ace by Kara Oxenknecht, saw the Redhawks briefly take a 7-5 lead. Despite the Redhawks' efforts, including a kill by Alaina Lester, the Golden Eagles closed the set with a 25-21 victory, highlighted by Bella Powell's consistent scoring.  

Southeast Missouri State took an early 4-2 lead with kills from Lucy Arndt and a block error by the Golden Eagles. Tennessee Tech responded to tie the set at 6-6, capitalizing on a service ace by Alayna Pierce. SEMO gained momentum with a 3-1 run, highlighted by a kill from Marin Johnson, moving the score to 9-8. Arndt secured the set 25-23 for the Redhawks with a decisive kill, capping off a tight finish.  

Southeast Missouri State jumped to a 3-0 lead with a combination of a kill by Oxenknecht and two attack errors by Tennessee Tech. Reagan Nelson added to the visitor's momentum with a kill, pushing the score to 4-1. Tennessee Tech tied the set at 7-7 with a service ace by Tuva Falk. Johnson contributed two kills in succession to help the Redhawks regain a 10-7 advantage. Arndt secured the set for the Redhawks with a decisive kill, closing the set at 25-21.  

Tennessee Tech started strong with Audrey Berkebile registering three early kills, leading to a 3-1 advantage. SEMO's Arndt responded with multiple kills, keeping the visitors within reach as they narrowed the gap to 8-6. A critical service ace by Johnson tied the set at 11-11, sparking a SEMO run that took the lead. SEMO pulled away with a late 6-2 run, including a decisive kill by Ellie Burns, sealing the set 25-20.

SOUTHERN INDIANA 3, EASTERN ILLINOIS 0
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - University of Southern Indiana Volleyball takes its first Ohio Valley Conference win of the season against Eastern Illinois University in a dominant three-set sweep.
 
The Screaming Eagles handed the Panthers their first OVC loss of the season, as they hosted Dig Pink night to raise awareness for breast cancer.
 
The Screaming Eagles came out strong in their first OVC match in Liberty Arena, maintaining the lead after the third point. Senior Bianca Anderson and junior Leah Coleman led the court with five kills each. Junior Ashby Willis picked up four digs. The Eagles challenged EIU from the service line, landing four aces.
 
USI pumped up their offensive production in the second set, tallying 19 kills as a team for a .422 hitting percentage with no errors. Kills were led by Coleman, who added another six to the board. Willis recorded six kills, as well, to bring her total to eight, while she led the team with seven more digs.
 
The Eagles came in dominant for the final set, taking the lead after two points and maintaining it to the end. Anderson led the offense with four kills, followed by Willis and freshman Carley Wright with three each. The defense kept EIU to their lowest hitting percentage of the game, picking up 21 digs and three blocks.
 
As a team, the Eagles tallied their second-highest hitting percentage of the season at .342, making just eight errors, the lowest in a game since the 2021 season. Three Eagles reached double-digit kills, led by Anderson and Coleman with 12 each.
 
Freshman setter Aysa Thomas marked her eighth consecutive double-double with 39 assists and 10 digs. Willis marked her sixth double-double of the season with 11 kills and 15 digs, which led the team.

SIUE 3, WESTERN ILLINOIS 2
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - SIUE volleyball dominates Western Illinois in a five-set battle, with multiple Cougars turning in career-best performances.  
 
The Cougars started out early, taking the first two sets 25-22 and 25-15. Western Illinois came back to claim the next two sets 25-20 and 25-23, before SIUE closed the night with a tight 15-13 victory in the fifth set.
 
The Cougars improved to 8-6 overall, and 3-0 in OVC play. While the Leathernecks fall to 3-13 overall and 0-3 in OVC play.
 
Sophomore Sophie Robinson tied her career-high 17 kills while adding 18 digs. Junior Vienna Elliott matched her best mark with eight block assists, and Senior Bree Schreimann also tied her career-high of five block assists. Freshman Maddie Determan had a career-high 10 kills and 44 attacks in the game, while senior Olivia Hogan had a career-high 25 digs.
 
The Cougars also notched a few team highs for a five-set match, finishing with 89 digs, 63 assists and 186 total attempts (68-32-186). SIUE also added 12 blocks, seven aces and 68 kills. Western had 53 kills, six aces, 14 blocks, 48 assists and 69 digs.

LINDENWOOD 3, UT MARTIN 1
ST. CHARLES, Mo. - Lindenwood Women's Volleyball (6-6, 2-2 OVC) improved to 2-2 in Ohio Valley Conference play on Friday evening with a four-set win over UT Martin (1-14, 0-4 OVC). The Lions registered 50 kills in the contest with Autumn Bax leading the way with 17.

Trailing 6-5 early in set one, Lindenwood responded with a 9-1 run to put them in front 14-7. Ashley Geluck got the run started with a kill off an assist from Greta Shadewald followed by a kill from Kylee Richey. Richey added two more kills later on in the run to put the Lions up by seven in the middle of the first set. Alayna Rudebeck capped off a 4-0 run that the Lions made later on in the set with a service ace as Lindenwood took the opening set by a score of 25-17.

The Skyhawks opened set two on a 7-3 run and held onto the lead for most of the second set. The Lions cut UT Martin's lead to three twice thanks to a Geluck kill and a Jade Roth service ace, but couldn't grab the lead as the Skyhawks took the second set 25-18.

Set three was back-and-forth the whole way as both teams made several runs throughout the set. UT Martin started off the third set with a 4-0 run before the Lions went on a 5-0 run of their own. Jade Roth highlighted the 5-0 run with a kill as the Skyhawks committed three attack errors during the run. Later in the set, Autumn Bax would get back-to-back kills to put the Lions in front 22-21. Following Bax's kills, the defense stepped up as Kylee Richey recorded a solo block followed by a block from Bax and Faith Atkins to extend the lead to 24-21. The Skyhawks would not go down quietly however, as they went on a 4-0 run to take the lead at 25-24. With UTM at set point, Atkins and Richey would come through on the defensive side with another block to tie the set at 25. The Lions ended the third set on a 3-1 run to take the middle set 28-26.

The fourth set saw Autumn Bax have five kills, including back-to-back kills to put Lindenwood up 12-9. Jade Roth also had five kills in the last set as the Lions would hang on to defeat the Skyhawks 25-19. Ameila Thro led the Lions with 21 assists in the contest, while Roth finished the game with 10 kills. Defensively, Atkins and Roth each had six blocks with Geluck finishing right behind them with four. As a team, Lindenwood finished with 13 blocks in the game compared to UT Martin's five.

LITTLE ROCK 3, TENNESSEE STATE 0
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - With their third win in as many conference games, Little Rock moved into an early tie for the top spot in the Ohio Valley Conference thanks to a straight-set win over Tennessee State at the Jack Stephens Center. The Trojans improved to 8-7 overall and 3-0 in the OVC with scores of 25-15, 25-17, and 25-16 against the Tigers (1-15, 0-4).
 
While the coaching staff may have been pleased with the outcome, there was a bit left to the imagination when it came to effort – a sentiment that was echoed during the team's postgame huddle.
 
Little Rock hit just .183 for the match but took advantage of several Tennessee State miscues, including 21 attack errors, seven service errors, and six more on the receiving end. The Tigers hit just .018 in the contest, including a negative (-.031) in the second frame.
 
Bella Cherry led the Trojan attack with 12 kills, Crismeyli Rodriguez added seven on .318 hitting, and Jaycee Kennedy hit .364 while totaling six kills. A'lanae Margaritha also had five kills on just eight attempts. Dariana Valencia had 15 assists while Kaylee Smith turned in 14 helpers.
 
Andrea Roman had 22 digs, Rodriguez added 11, and Smith had 10. Margaritha added four blocks and a pair of aces. Kennedy and Sophia Garrido each had three blocks, and three players – Cherry, Rodriguez, and Avery Fearnley – had two apiece.