The Southeast Missouri State volleyball team was involved in a down to the wire, five-set match for its final home game of the season against Jacksonville State.

This was Senior Night for the Redhawks and they ended up losing the game 3-2 (25-22, 25-18, 25-18, 25-23, 17-15), which was the final game at Houck Field House for senior middle blocker Taylor Masterson and senior defensive specialist Haley Roberts on Saturday.

The loss to the Gamecocks resulted in the Redhawks ending their regular season on a four-game losing streak and receiving the final seed in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament, which is set to begin next week.

“A lot of ups and downs, facing some adversity, but it was great to see Taylor come and play a position she has never really played ever and play for the team all the way around for the first time in her career in her last home match,” Southeast coach Julie Yankus said.

Masterson, who received pregame honors from the crowd and was escorted to the court by her parents, had 15 kills, 11 digs and three assisted blocks in her final home match as a student-athlete at Southeast.

“Overall, both teams fought really hard and we had some really great moments, but we had some little things that unfortunately didn’t go our way during key points of the game, but overall we played a really good game,” Masterson said.

Masterson complemented the play of her teammates who played different positions than they are used to due to several injuries, including junior setter Katarina Rotta injuring her wrist during the second set of the match.

Southeast quickly responded to losing the first set by gaining the lead early in the second set and never trailed in sets two or three.

This two-set rally by Southeast led to the home crowd and even Southeast president Dr. Carlos Vargas to participate in the chanting of “Let’s go Southeast,” and the season-long pre-serve ritual of “Woosh” when Southeast served to the opposition.

Set four consisted of Jacksonville State holding the advantage throughout the set, but never pushed its lead higher than four points since Southeast put together a late rally that was short lived by a closely officiated attack error call by Masterson ending the set by the score of 25-23.

The fifth and final set of the match was just as competitive, involving consistent lead changes throughout the set.

Southeast then was able to put together a three-point rally following a kill by Masterson that was later matched, leading to Southeast giving up three-consecutive points ending the match 17-15.

Southeast will go into the OVC tournament facing the host of the tournament Murray State at 7 p.m. Thursday at Racer Arena.

“I totally believe we can go out and we can beat them, I think we just have to come together, bring our energy like we know how,” Roberts said.