MILLIGAN COLLEGE, Tenn. (Oct. 2, 2015) â€" For a few minutes, it looked like the Milligan College volleyball team was going to pull off an improbable comeback, but in the end, the Buffaloes lost to a scrappy St. Andrews University 3-1 (25-18, 25-19, 25-27, 25-19) Friday night at Steve Lacy Fieldhouse.
 
Milligan (9-8, 5-3 AAC) was playing at home for the first time since improving to 4-1 with an Appalachian Athletic Conference victory on Sept. 1. St. Andrews, which had been at home for the last five matches, improved to 6-6 (4-4 AAC) and snapped the Buffaloes four-match conference winning streak.
 
Milligan faced five match points in Friday's loss and looked to be on the ropes at the end of the third set but fought back. Trailing 24-22 and in need of back-to-back points, Marissa Langford and Charlie Bateman stepped up for two assisted blocks, at 24-22 and 24-24, to help Milligan climb back. Langford then followed at 25-25 with one of her team high 12 kills to give the Buffs their first lead since winning the first two points of the third set, and Milligan took the next point on a St. Andrews error to force a fourth.
 
Milligan trailed the whole way through the fourth set but made several runs to keep it close. Jessica Davenport, Samantha Bruinius and Jadin Foster earned kills on three straight points early on, and Jenna Headrick and Langford both had kills during a late 6-3 run where the Buffs again looked to stretch the match by another set.
 
Still later, Bruinius and Savannah Benton stepped up for kills on back-to-back points, but St. Andrews was able to close it out.
 
Behind Langford, three other Buffs recorded eight or more kills as Bruinius and Benton had nine apiece and Emilee Linkous had eight. Davenport, the reigning AAC Setter of the Week who was honored before the match for reaching 3,000 career assists, earned 44 assists and 12 digs.
 
Next up, Milligan will host Montreat College (3-16, 2-4 AAC) on Tuesday, Oct. 6, at 6:30 p.m., and will look to repeat the 3-0 sweep the Buffs dealt the Cavs earlier this season. Milligan's match against Columbia College originally scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 3, was postponed due to the incoming rain.