The Skyhawks and Southeast Missouri (SEMO) Redhawks battled to the bitter end on Tuesday, Oct. 29, at the Skyhawk Fieldhouse.
The matchup, which featured 23 tie scores and 12 lead changes according to Sports Information, saw the Redhawks barely escape with a 3-2 win.
Multiple Skyhawks stepped up big on both sides of the ball, with several players recording double-digit kills and digs.
Senior middleblocker (MB) Gintare Mackeviciute paved the way for the Skyhawks offensively with 17 kills on 33 attempts while also boasting the best hitting percentage on the team with .273. Mackeviciute also amassed the most points of any player on UTM or SEMO, racking up an impressive 19 on the night.
Coming in behind Mackeviciute was sophomore outside hitter (OH) Logan Wallick, who had the most attempts of any UTM or SEMO player with 58. Wallick came just short of her senior counterpart’s kill total with 16, hitting a significantly lower percentage of just .034. Despite having a solid offensive showing, Wallick also led the team in errors with 14.
On the defensive side of the ball, freshman defensive specialist Lucy Kaufman paced the Skyhawks in digs with 20. Kaufman also limited herself to only three errors.
In the first stanza, both teams pulled off 5-0 runs, eventually knotting up the score at 16-all. Sophomore opposite (OPP)/OH Addison Conley reeled off two kills to help give the Skyhawks a three-point lead.
Once again, however, the score became tied up, this time at 21-all. The Skyhawks scored four of the next five points to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
Stanza two opened up with strong performances from Hinshaw, who opened the scoring with two kills, and Mackeviciute, who contributed three kills and a block-assist, in a 4-0 Skyhawk run. Despite getting outscored 11-8 midway through the stanza, the Skyhawks cut the deficit down to 19-18. The Redhawks countered back with four unanswered points for the win.
In stanza three, the Skyhawks fell behind quick when SEMO scored four of the first five points, but strong serving from freshman setter Haeligh Paulino resulted in a 5-0 run for UTM. A Skyhawk lead of 19-14 forced the Redhawks to burn a timeout, which allowed them to regroup and cut their deficit down, eventually putting the Skyhawks on the ropes with a 22-23 deficit.
Wallick and Conley finished off the third stanza with back-to-back kills to give the Skyhawks a 2-1 lead in the game.
The fifth stanza was a dud from UTM’s perspective. As a whole, the team hit a -.299, with the only Skyhawk lead coming from a Redhawk error on their initial possession. SEMO managed to get a double-digit lead after an 8-0 run. A couple of kills by Wallick helped slow the Redhawks down, but the effort wasn’t enough and SEMO tied the game at 2-all.
The Redhawks went on to scrape out a win in the fifth stanza to win the game, improving their record to 17-8 overall (9-2 OVC), remaining at the top of the OVC. The Skyhawks, however, fall to 9-17 (5-6 OVC).
UTM volleyball has five games left in the regular season, with the next three games being home matchups against .500 or winning OVC teams. The volleyball squad will be back in action on Nov. 2 to take on the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles (6-4 OVC).
Photo Credit / Sports Information
