EDWARDSVILLE, Ill—SIUE volleyball improved to 9-6 in Ohio Valley Conference play and 14-13 overall with a three-set triumph over Southeast Missouri State.

SIUE defeated SEMO 25-19, 31-29, 25-21.

SIUE took each set against SEMO, 19-10 overall and in 11-4 in the OVC, in very different ways.

"This is a big win for us," commented Head Volleyball Coach Kendall Paulus. "The team was extremely motivated coming into the match. The confidence coming into the game came from a great week of practice and the players knowing the plan coming into the match."

Junior Outside Hitter Rachel McDonald also agreed on the valued team effort this evening.

"You can't do anything without your team," McDonald. "If I could give every person on this team a shout out, I would. Whether it is court or bench, everyone deserves a shout out."

Annie Ellis collected 11 kills, recording a season high for herself, while also hitting .429.

"In practice we always talk about doing more and giving more and Annie did that tonight," McDonald added. "Blocking, block touches, attacking, she did it all tonight and really helped assist the team to get the win."

The team recorded 50 kills on the evening. In addition to Ellis's 11 kills, Hope Everett added 10, McDonald tallied nine and Dylynn Otte totaled eight.

"The team has done a great job at staying tight and not overthinking and really trusting the system," Paulus added. "I hope that tonight's win helps us remain confident in the system that we are running."

SIUE won the battle on defense with 87 digs to Tennessee Tech's 71.

Jordyn Klein led the team in digs with 23, while McDonald contributed 22 of her own.

"We knew that SEMO was going to have a balanced effort tonight," Paulus stated. "Our focus coming into the match was to get as many block touches as we could and to know their hitting tendencies."

The defensive effort from the team did not stop there. The Cougars totaled 12 blocks on the evening, averaging four blocks per set. Ellis, Everett and Kiana Fields were the main contributors to the team's blocking efforts.

"We owe a huge thanks to the crowd tonight," McDonald stated. "They really fed into our momentum and our bench also assisted in hyping us up. The atmosphere was unreal especially on senior weekend. We really want to give our seniors a great exit and this crowd really helped with that."

The Cougars move into fifth place in the OVC standings with the win against SEMO.

SIUE, winners of three straight matches will wrap-up the regular season at home on Saturday with a 2 p.m. match against UT Martin.