2021 SOUTHEAST MISSOURI VOLLEYBALL GUIDE JULIE YANKUS
JULIE YANKUS HEAD COACH
T
he 2021 season marks the 11th for Julie Yankus at the helm of the Southeast Missouri women’s volleyball program. Through 10 seasons as the head coach of the Redhawks, Yankus has compiled an Ohio Valley Conference record of 91-73. Yankus’ teams have competed at the OVC Championship Tournament in nine of her 10 seasons at SEMO. She has mentored 16 All-OVC Team selections, two OVC AllNewcomer Team selections, and six All-OVC Tournament Team honorees. During the 2020-21 season, Yankus led SEMO to its fourthstraight OVC Tournament appearance. The Redhawks finished with a 14-3 overall record. SEMO posted a 14-2 record in OVC play for third in
30
11TH YEAR // WISCONSIN-MILWAUKEE, 2002 the league and the no. 3 seed at the 2020-21 OVC Championship Tournament. SEMO’s 14 league wins in 2020-21 are the most in the past 13 seasons as the 2007 SEMO team finished with a mark of 15-5. The Redhawks have finished with double-digit conference wins in each of the past two seasons. After dropping their opening weekend at Jacksonville State, SEMO went on a 14-match win streak with seven series victories over Eastern Kentucky, Belmont, SIUE, UT Martin, Austin Peay, Eastern Illinois and Murray State. The Redhawks’ OVC winning percentage of .875 was the highest since 2000, when SEMO was perfect in league play, 16-0 (1.000). SEMO last finished an OVC slate with a record of 14-2
in 1995. Senior outside hitter Laney Malloy and junior setter Claire Ochs were both named to the 2020-21 All-OVC First-Team. Ochs was also selected to the 2020-21 OVC Championship All-Tournament Team for the second-straight season. Yankus also coached three OVC weekly award winners during the 2020-21 season in Ally Dion (Defensive), Laney Malloy (Offensive) and Tara Beilsmith (Defensive). In 2019, Yankus led the Redhawks (23-11, 12-4 OVC) to their first OVC Tournament Championship since 2006 and sixth overall in school history. The team matched the 2000 Southeast Missouri team that totaled 23 wins (23-9, 16-0 OVC). As the second seed, the Redhawks overcame #7
Tennessee Tech (3-1), #3 Murray State (3-2) and #4 Morehead State (3-0) en route to the Championship. Laney Malloy, Mikayla Kuhlmann and Claire Ochs were each named to the 2019 OVC All-Tournament Team. Ochs was selected as the tournament MVP. The trio are the first Redhawks awarded OVC AllTournament Team honors since Colleen Yarber garnered the distinction in 2012. Yankus also coached four All-OVC players in 2019 in middle blocker Maggie Adams (First), outside hitter Laney Malloy (First), setter Claire Ochs (Second) and libero Tara Beilsmith (Second). Southeast last had four selections to the All-OVC Team in 1999 when Angie Aschoff, Krista Haukap, Amy Henken and Lea
9-TIME OVC REGULAR-SEASON CHAMPIONS | 6-TIME OVC TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONS