Southeast Missouri State volleyball team splits pair in Nashville

The Southeast Missouri State volleyball team topped Tennessee State in a five-set thriller on Friday before falling to Belmont in straight sets on Saturday during a two-game road trip in Nashville, Tennessee.

The final three sets against TSU were decided by three or fewer points as the Redhawks won 3-2.

Southeast cruised past the Tigers 25-13 in the opening set. The Redhawks used a 7-0 spurt midway through the set to break away from TSU and never led by fewer than seven the remainder of the way.

The Tigers led 22-16 in the second set when a 5-0 Redhawks run, which featured kills by Madalyn Werths, Marie Less and Nzingha Clarke, made it a one-point game. TSU scored the final three points to win it 25-22 and even the match at one set apiece.

Southeast led TSU 21-19 in the third set but the Tigers got help from three Southeast errors as part of a 6-1 run to take the lead for good and take the set 25-22.

The Redhawks led by as many as six at 23-17 in the fourth. TSU scored the next six to tie it at 23. It was tied at 24 and 25 before a kill by Jade Mortimer and a block by Taylor Masterson and Jessica McElderry gave the Redhawks a 27-25 win to force the fifth set.

The final set was tied seven times. The largest lead was a 12-9 TSU advantage. The Redhawks used a 5-1 run to take a one-point lead after that before TSU scored the next two to go up 15-14.

A pair of kills by Werths and a kill by Keegan Fornoff closed out the set and gave the Redhawks the 17-15 victory.

Werths led Southeast in kills for the third straight match when the Bruins won 25-18, 25-18, 25-20 in straight sets.

Werths finished with nine kills while Clarke added seven kills. Fornoff contributed 17 assists and nine digs for the Redhawks against Belmont while Mortimer and Krissa Gearring each added 11 digs.