SEMO Volleyball team to play for OVC championship Wednesday

CHARLESTON, Ill. (KBSI) – The #2 seed Southeast Missouri Volleyball (22-9, 12-6 OVC) advanced to the 2023 Ohio Valley Conference Tournament Championship after a five-set victory over #3 Lindenwood (16-14, 11-7 OVC) on Tuesday night at Lantz Arena in Charleston, Ill.

SEMO will face #1 Eastern Illinois on Wednesday, Nov. 22. First serve is slated for 6 p.m.

The Redhawks won the match 16-25, 25-16, 21-25, 25-23, & 15-13 after winning the quarterfinal match in five sets the previous night.

Graduate student Tara Beilsmith finished with 36 digs on the evening. That moved her career digs to 3,014. She now ranks third all-time in NCAA Volleyball history for career digs.

The Redhawks won 13-11 in the fifth and decisive set. Setter Izzy Lukens had a skip-set attack to put the Redhawks on match point. Lukens dropped the ball just over the net.

The Lions scored the next point to make it 14-12. After a back-and-forth exchange, it appeared that SEMO had won the game on a LU error. Upon review, the Lions were awarded the point to make it 14-13.

The Redhawks secured the win on the next point with a block by Talia Gouard and Lukens on LU’s Addy McAleer. SEMO  will play in its fourth championship game in the last five years.

SEMO was led offensively by freshman outside hitter Lucy Arndt who finished with her second double-double of the tournament. Arndt registered 18 kills on 62 total attacks (eight errors) for a .161 hitting-percentage. She recorded 14 digs and finished with 24.0 points in the match.

Izzy Lukens had 43 assists and led SEMO to a .217 hitting-percentage. Six different Redhawks recorded kills on Tuesday night.

Redshirt sophomore Avery Torrey finished with seven kills on 17 total attacks (two errors) for a .294 hitting mark. She also recorded five block assists on the night.

The Redhawks recorded 12 team blocks, including the game-winner, in Tuesday’s match led by middle blocker Talia Gouard. She recorded nine block assists and chipped in six kills on 15 attempts as well. Gouard finished with 10.5 points.

Senior middle blocker Marisa Guisti finished with double-digit kills. She had 13 in the match. Guisti also served up two aces, a solo block and a block assist in the win.

The match featured 14 lead changes and 26 different times the score was tied in the match as the Redhawks outlasted another opponent in five sets and beat Lindenwood for the first time in 2023.