Southeast Missouri State volleyball team picks up first win of season

The Southeast Missouri State volleyball team picked up its first win of the season with a 3-0 (25-21, 25-19, 25-15) sweep over Gardner-Webb in the Gardner-Webb Tournament before splitting two matches in Saturday's action, dropping a 3-1 (25-23, 19-25, 20-25, 23-25) decision against South Carolina-Upstate and winning a 3-2 (23-25, 28-30, 25-17, 25-22, 15-8) decision against The Citadel.

Krissa Gearring tallied 12 kills in the win over Gardner-Webb and had a hitting clip of .235. Nzingha Clarke added nine kills with a .500 attack percentage, while Madeline Grimm and Marie Less each had eight kills.

"We faced alot of adversity this week and to get our first win feels great," Southeast coach Julie Yankus said. "We had a very balanced attack which helped us control the pace of the match."

The Redhawks claimed the first set against the Spartans but were edged out in the final three sets.

Gearring once again led the way for Southeast, finishing with 11 kills and 16 digs. Clarke contributed 10 kills and four blocks, and Katarina Rotta had 36 assists for the Redhawks.

Southeast dropped the first two sets against the Bulldogs before winning the next two and forcing a decisive tiebreaking set, which was won by the Redhawks in a 15-8 decision.

Clarke led the way with 24 kills and three blocks in the match. Gearring added 20 kills, and Less contributed 14 kills. Grimm tallied 22 digs, two blocks and two assists, and Rotta had 62 assists and four aces.

Southeast is 2-4 on the season and returns to action this weekend at the Arkansas Tournament in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Cross country

The Southeast men's and women's teams began the season with a pair of wins at the Gabby Reuveni Early Bird at Washington University in St. Louis.

The Redhawks' Marc Maton finished the men's 6K race in first place with a time of 19:48. Southeast also got top-10 finishes from Shane Brown (4, 20:14), Daniel Plunkett (6, 20:25) and Jaime Zarate (7, 20:27). Jace Mortimer (12, 20:47), Andrew Whitener (15, 20:52), James Kosbar (27, 21:20) and Curtis Reed (34, 21:42) also competed for the Redhawks.

Southeast finished with 30 points, followed by Washington (39) in second and Washington Alumni (81) in third.

Kaitlyn Shea led the way for the Redhawks women's team in the 4K race with a third-place time of 15:04, while Megan Parks (6, 15:06) and Angie Sumner (7, 15:09) also earned top-10 finishes for Southeast. Sydney O'Brien (12, 15:36), Natalie Kopplin (19, 15:48), Celine Rone (20, 15:55), Lindsey Seabaugh (23, 16:02), Rachel Hutchcraft (24, 16:03), Andrea George (31, 16:15), Eilish Overby (40, 16:36), Madeline Gaul (76, 19:48) and Kennedy Roderick (87, 20:22) also ran for the Redhawks.

Southeast picked up 40 points to take first place, followed by Washington (44) in a close second and Saint Louis University (70) in third.

Softball

The Southeast softball team is scheduled to begin its Fall Softball Academy and will hold tryouts this week.

The Fall Softball Academy begins at 6 p.m. Tuesday and is open to participants grades 5-8 with a cost of $25 per week for a total of $100. Offensive sessions will include hitting, short-game work and baserunning and will last one hour. There will be a total of three scheduled sessions each week, and the Academy is will take place at the Southeast Softball Complex. For more information or to register, contact Stephanie Winter at swinter@semo.edu.

The Redhawks will also hold tryouts at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Southeast Softball Complex.

Those who are interested are required to have a physical from the last six months on record along with a copy of the physical. Interested participants must also be full-time students at Southeast. For additional information, contact the Southeast Softball Office at 573-651-2993.