On March 1, SEMO volleyball defeated Southern Illinois University Edwardsville 3-0. The Redhawks won each set by scores of 25-11, 25-19, and 25-15.

Redhawks coach Julie Yankus said that it was nice to be in command.

“It's always fun to play a game like that where you don't feel like you're trying to claw from behind,” Yankus said.

The Redhawks went down 3-0 to start the first set when they got a spark from senior outside hitter Laney Malloy.

Malloy led a 4-0 run for the Redhawks that helped shift the momentum in the set. Yankus said that the confidence Malloy has gained in her time here has helped her become such a strong leader for the Redhawks.

“She's a captain for us. She leads by example and she's a good vocal leader too,” Yankus said. “I think she's really gained confidence during her time here and now as a senior she has that confidence in her ability and she knows that.”

Malloy led the Redhawks with 13 kills, 10 digs, and three assists. Behind her was sophomore outside hitter Zoey Beasly with 10 kills, five digs, and four blocks. Junior setter Claire Ochs led the Redhawks with 31 assists.

Yankus praised her team for executing their game plan perfectly. They kept SIUE from playing their normal game of well balanced offense. Yankus said the other part of their game plan was to score points while the Cougars setter was in the front row.

In the second set SEMO led 15-13 at the halfway point. Out of the break they went on a 7-0 run to force SIUE to take a timeout when the score reached 21-15.

Yankus said that the team knew they needed to pull ahead and they did so.

“We really focused on minimizing our errors,” Yankus said. “Knowing that if we needed to we set the ball for the setter, and we started progressing but we really stuck with the game plan.”

A major point of Southeast’s game plan was to minimize errors. Yankus said this was the first time that they have met their goal on minimizing errors and the amount of points they are giving away.

Yankus said the Redhawks gained momentum from this win and talked about how important this is heading into the middle of the season.

“I think we just continue to get better, which is what you hope for,” Yankus said. “You hope that you continue to get better and that we're peaking at the conference tournament time so you know there's always things that we can continue to focus on, little parts of the game that we need to continue to improve.”

The win moved Southeast to 6-2 overall and 6-2 in the Ohio Valley Conference.

The Redhawks are back in action on March 7 when they travel to Martin, Tennessee to take on the University of Tennessee at Martin Skyhawks.