Southeast Missouri volleyball team wins five-set thriller against Austin Peay
Southeast Missouri Redhawks gave a marvelous performance at a Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) fixture on Friday, October 7, when they proved dominant over Austin Peay Governors. The Dunn Centre in Clarksville, Tennessee hosted the match with a large number
of fans present.
Austin Peay returned to centre court after beating Eastern Kentucky by 3-2 in the last match and once again went into five sets against Redhawks. However, this time it proved to be a bitter experience as SMU edged them out by posting 3-2 (25-16, 31-33, 25-23,
16-25, 15-9) victory and collected a sixth OVC victory.
Match summery
Southeast Missouri formed good combinations in the opening set and played offensive most of the time. They promptly earned better positions and continued with the hard-hitting. Austin Peay relied on Ilyanna Hernandez but could not achieve the desired results.
Redhawks secured the opening set with 25-16 on board.
SMU led the score with 17-12 in the second set but Lady Govs hit back and cut the lead to 17-16. The score tied at 18-18 and 21-all, but Govs did not lose momentum. They fought bravely and captured the second set, 33-31.
However, Lady Govs could not carry the momentum in the third set and were beaten back the Hawks’ strike. Third set slipped from their hands but they made a come-back in the fourth set and created the dead-lock of 2-2 by winning the set.
Austin Peay's players seemed visibly exhausted in the fifth and got caught up in a flurry of mistakes. They failed to land a ball in SMU’s half and stayed way behind their opponents. On the contrary, South Missouri was on top of the game with perfect shots
in gaps and corners. They gave out a wonderful performance in the final set recorded six kills and one ace, which led them to success.
Player contribution
The scoring leader for Southeast Missouri, Brittney Kalinoski, topped all players with 17 kills off the bench. Likewise, Emily Coon performed well and got eight kills in addition to her 10 impressive blocks. Redhawks finished the match with a season-high
17 blocks.
Lady Govs’ Senior Ilyanna Hernandez put up a great effort for her team and added 18 kills with a hitting percentage of .304. Moreover, she also did a good job at defence and got her hands on 18 digs. In second place, Junior Nikki Doyle, supported Govs with
18 kills but she committed too many errors which benefitted the opposite side. Freshmen Jada Stotts and Hillary Plybon also went into double-digits scores. They added 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Coach’s feedback
Julie Folliard, the Head Coach of Redhawks, praised the great effort of her players. She commented: “We had a great defensive night after the first set we were very scrappy and learned their tendencies. We were in the right spots and read the right reads
and that led to blocks.” The coach especially appreciated the Kelsey’s wonderful performance. She added: “Kelsey did great and swung away immediately, she didn't play like a freshman and she took a lot of second balls and she was great at the net for us tonight.”
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