SEMO volleyball kicked off their season with the SEMO Invitational with three matches taking place from August 25-26 at Houck Field House.

Graduate student libero Tara Beilsmith said that the Redhawks were excited to be able to finally get on the court and face new competition.

“I think it was really exciting, especially being able to host our very first tournament of the season. We've been playing against our own people for the past two weeks,” Beilsmith said. “It's been really exciting to have a different face on the other side of the court and see what we're made of all together.”

The invitational got started with SEMO defeating the Evansville Purple Aces in the consecutive sets, 26-24, 26-24, 25-23.

The Redhawks followed that later that evening, defeating the Central Michigan Chippewas three sets to one. SEMO would win the first two sets 25-17 and 25-21, but the Chippewas would strike back in the third set winning 25-23.

In the fourth set the Redhawks came out with a 16-5 lead, before eventually closing the door on any hopes of a Chippewas comeback, winning 25-19.

For the final match of the weekend SEMO faced the Salukis of Southern Illinois. The Salukis took the first two sets from the Redhawks winning 25-18 and 25-17. However, SEMO came back with a 25-19 victory in the third set. In a back and forth set, the Redhawks were not able to force a fifth set falling 25-23, and 3-1.

Freshman outside hitter Lucy Arndt said that serving and passing were the two main factors in the Redhawks loss to SIU.

“Definitely serving and passing. We struggled with being more aggressive and trying to get those passes up to the setter,” Arndt said.

Head coach Julie Yankus also said that passing was one the main downfalls for the Redhawks in their loss.

“We definitely struggled to pass today. SIU is a very aggressive, good serving team, and they just kind of got us back on our heels,” Coach Yankus said.

SEMO will be back in action when they play three matches in the Chicago State Tournament from September 1-2 in Chicago, Ill.

“It's a good start to the year. We wanted to be 3-0 but we'll take 2-1, and it's good to see where we're at so far,” Yankus said.