The Southeast Missouri State volleyball team sent its seniors out a good note with a 3-0 victory (25-18, 25-20, 25-17) over UT Martin on Tuesday, Nov. 11.

In the critical win in the last game of the season at Houck Field house, the Redhawks (11-18,7-8) got a crucial win in the Ohio Valley Conference and is in the chase to land the eighth and final spot in the postseason conference tournament over the Skyhawks (11-18, 4-11).

"The game went very well tonight. Exactly what we wanted to do," coach Julie Yankus said. "We came out with a lot of energy and it's exactly how the last home game should be."

The first set was a game of scoring runs. After a back and forth start to the set, the Redhawks went up 7-4 after three straight points after being tied at four.

UT Martin then answered with a 7-1 run of its own to regain the lead at 11-8. Another run by Southeast tied the game at 14.

After some back and forth action, several errors by UT Martin resulted in a timeout and a thrown UT Martin visor as the Redhawks took a 21-17 lead and never looked back, clinching the set on one of its five blocks by junior middle blocker Taylor Masterson and sophomore hitter Madalyn Werths.

The second set was a again a story of runs as the Redhawks used a quick four point run to go up 6-3.

The Skyhawks again answered with a 9-1 run of its own to go up 10-7 midway through the set. A 9-1 run by the Redhawks, punctuated by 3 kills from Masterson, helped Southeast go up 18-12 and roll to a 25-20 second set win.

The third and final set was much different with the Redhawks getting to an early 8-4 lead and dominated the third set as they never trailed and won the set and the match win.

With the game being the last for four senior Redhawk players, there were big performances from some of the seniors. Outside hitter Andrea Baylin converted 6 kills and had an ace while rightside hitter Kelsey Keeve had six kills on eight attempts for a 75 percent average.

"Our seniors did very well tonight," Yankus said. "Baylin was huge in terms of ball control and Kelsey did a great job blocking and had a great hitting percentage. Almost every ball we set to her was a kill. I think the seniors can leave here proud."

While most of the attention was focused on the game being the last for the seniors some of the other players had standout games as well. Junior defensive specialist Haley Roberts and sophomore setter Katarina Rotta set the hitters up with great passes with Rotta having 17 assists and Roberts having a team and new career high 20. Freshman blocker Nzingha Clarke and Masterson set the tone with kills with eight and 12 respectively.

"We came out aggressively," Masterson said. "We had a goal in mind that we had to win this game or it would be questionable as to whether we would go to the tournament or not."

With a loss by SIU Edwardsville and a win by Tennessee Tech on Tuesday, the Redhawks will hold sole possession of the last spot going into their final regular season game.

Southeast will play Jacksonville State on Saturday, Nov. 15 on the road at noon and the Redhawks do not lack confidence heading into the game.

"We played really well and had a big win tonight," Masterson said. "We have nothing to lose at this point and we are going to go in there and ball out."