SEMO advances to OVC semifinals after victory against TSU

The SEMO volleyball team began their campaign in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament with a victory against Tennessee State University, pushing them into the semifinals.

The match began with a close first set, with the Redhawks and Tigers going back and forth in scoring, with the Redhawks eventually coming out on top by a score of 25-21.

This competitiveness continued into the second set, with the Tigers battling back into the game and winning the second set by a score of 25-16. During this set, Head Coach Julie Yankus said that the team was a bit rattled by the pressure of playing in the OVC tournament, and in front of the home crowd, and needed to calm down and adjust before the next set.

“They have a lot of experience, so we just had to remind them that we have to treat it like any other match of the season. A lot of them like to know specifically what they can do, so we told each and every one of them [specific advice]. I think that helped calm them down, not playing frantically but playing with urgency,” Yankus said.

These adjustments after the set paid off as the Redhawks went on to win the next two sets, and go on to win the game by a score of 3-1, despite Tennessee state keeping the game close and competitive.

During the game graduate student right side hitter Abby Johnson landed her 1000 kill of the season, and finished the game with 10 total kills.

Johnson commented on both her performance and the team’s, saying the victory was even sweeter because of the resilience of the team through the adversity and nerves they faced.

“[Getting the win and the achievement] feels great. I would say the win feels better because we got off to a rough start, and everybody was feeling those nerves, the jitters and stuff like that. So the win felt even better knowing that we had those ups and downs and we still pulled it off,” Johnson said.

Johnson also commented on the environment of Houck Field House, saying that the energy from the fans helped the teams play their best volleyball.

“They had an incredible impact on our performance. This gym is amazing to play in, because of how small it is. The sound travels very well, and having the band here was great, they were a good addition to our crowd. But it feels great to play in front of our crowd. It's loud. They're, they're behind us in everything,” Johnson said.

With this victory against TSU, the Redhawks advance to the semifinals, where they will take on Morehead State. Head coach Julie Yankus said that regardless of the opponents in the tournament, every team is competitive, and emphasized that any team could be victorious due to the competitiveness of the conference.

“It is strong all the way through, from one to 11. You never know what’s going to happen, everyone just has to show up. We all came in today 0-0, we’re just trying to see who can play the best volleyball for three days straight,” Yankus said.

The Redhawks next game is against Morehead State, in Houck Field House in Cape Girardeau at 5 p.m.