Milligan College, Tenn. (Nov. 2, 2012) --- The Milligan College volleyball team came up short in a five set thriller as they fell 3-2 to Appalachian Athletic Conference leader Bryan College on Friday night inside Steve Lacy Fieldhouse.
 
   The Buffaloes quickly jumped out to a 7-3 lead to open the match, but the Lady Lions battled back to tie the match at 15. Milligan answered with a 7-3 run to pull away and take a 25-21 first set victory. In the second set, Bryan jumped out early and pulled away as they took a 25-11 victory.
 
   The third set saw Bryan slowly pull away to take an early 13-9 lead. However, Milligan scored six straight points to erase the deficit to jump back into the lead and maintained it throughout the rest of the set as they took a 2-1 advantage in the match with a 25-22 set victory.  
 
   After the Lady Lions forced a fifth set with a 25-15 fourth set victory, the teams traded early points. Milligan took a 6-4 lead in the frame, but was unable to hold off a late Bryan charge as the Lady Lions secured the match with a 15-11 win.
 
   Kylie Whaley (Maryville, Tenn.) led the way with 19 kills, while Chelsea Spivey (Gate City, Tenn.) tallied 32 assists. Holly English (Kingsport, Tenn.) had nine kills and eight digs. Kaitlyn Qualls (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and Katelin Henson (Kingsport, Tenn.) had 17 and 16 digs, respectively, and Jessica Davenport (Cleveland, Tenn.) recorded 13 digs.
 
   “We were every focused coming in with being undefeated in conference at home and we really wanted to protect our home court,” Head Coach Doneva Bays said. “We showed Bryan a better game did we did at their place, and just came up a little short in that fifth game. If we can control the ball better, we will come out head next time.”
 
   With the loss, Milligan falls to 18-14 overall and 12-5 in AAC action, while Bryan improves to 27-9 overall and 15-2.
 
   The Buffaloes close out the regular season with Senior Day as they host Tennessee Wesleyan on Saturday, Nov. 3. Match time inside Steve Lacy Fieldhouse is slated for 11 a.m.