Southeast Missouri State volleyball sweeps Missouri Baptist in exhibition

Southeast Missouri State's Mikayla Kuhlmann looks up after diving for the ball during an exhibition match against Missouri Baptist on Monday at Houck Field House.

BEN MATTHEWS

The Southeast Missouri State volleyball team got on the floor for the first time this season and swept visiting Missouri Baptist 3-0 in an exhibition match Monday evening at Houck Field House.

Southeast edged the Spartans 25-18, 25-20 and 26-24 in the Redhawks' second-ever exhibition clash.

MBU is coming off a 34-9 season in which it reached the NAIA national semifinals. SEMO went 11-20 and fell in the first round of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament in 2017.

Southeast Missouri State's Maggie Adams, left, and Madara Bajare touch hands during an exhibition game Monday, Aug. 13, 2018, against Missouri Baptist at Houck Field House in Cape Girardeau.

BEN MATTHEWS ~ bmatthews@semissourian.com

"Missouri Baptist has historically been a very good team," Southeast coach Julie Yankus said in a news release. "They are a championship level team in the NAIA every year. We knew it would be a challenge and by no means overlooked them. It was nice to see us push through and get the victory against a very good team."

Stats were kept unofficially, with junior outside hitter Mikayla Kuhlmann leading SEMO with 11 kills on a .417 hitting percentage. Haley Bilbruck added seven kills.

Libero Ally Dion put up a team-high 14 digs for the Redhawks.

Starters for Southeast were Maggie Adams, Bilbruck, Madara Bajare, Krista Berns, Dion and newcomers Laney Malloy and Claire Ochs. Malloy is a transfer from Illinois-Chicago while Ochs is a freshman who put up 26 assists and 13 digs in the game.

"I think Claire Ochs had a great first performance as a freshman here," Yankus said. "As a setter you run the floor and I think she stayed composed and did a lot of really good things for us. She played her game and did a good job running the offense.

"I think Laney Malloy had a great start to this match. She came out strong and was solid in six rotations for us. She had a great first contact in serve receive and she really found a way to score quite a bit."

The two teams also played an unofficial fourth set, which the Spartans won 25-16.

Redhawks assistant Bob Crank was a player and coach at Missouri Baptist.

SEMO will host a free intrasquad scrimmage at 1 p.m. Saturday at Houck Field House before preparing for a season-opening road trip to the Troy Invitational in Troy, Alabama, on Aug. 24-25.

— From staff report