MILLIGAN COLLEGE, Tenn. (Oct. 27, 2015) â€" Samantha Bruinius earned a career high 19 kills to lead all attackers, but the Milligan College volleyball team lost in five sets (25-21, 15-25, 18-25, 25-20, 15-10) to Appalachian Athletic Conference leader Bryan College Tuesday evening at Steve Lacy Fieldhouse.
 
The match featured both Milligan (17-11, 12-5 AAC) and Bryan (22-13, 16-2 AAC) battling back from a set down but in the end, Bryan used a 5-0 run during the middle of the final set which proved to be the difference in the match.
 
Runs during the middle of a set proved to be the story all night long, as Bryan took the first and Milligan took the second and third thanks to point streaks at nearly the same middle stage of the set. In the first, Bryan used a 14-7 run beginning at 11-4 to draw the match even, and the Lady Lions used two stretches of five straight points later to take the early lead.
 
With the score 9-6 in favor of the Buffs in the second set, Bruinius recorded three of her kills during a stretch where the Buffs won seven straight points to take control and eventually bring the match to a game apiece. In the third, Milligan led 11-9 before rattling off six straight points for control of the middle set. Emilee Linkous registered three of her 16 kills during this stretch while Marissa Langford and Alora Ricker had the others.
 
The fourth set was close the whole way, with Bryan going into the lead for good at 10-9. It started a 4-0 run, and the Buffs were never able to get back closer than two.
 
Similarly in the deciding set, Bryan jumped out to the first four points to take the early control. Milligan battled back to scores of 4-3 and 6-5 before Bryan closed it out on a 9-5 run, beginning with the 5-0 run in the middle.
 
Bruinius, who was honored pregame for reaching 1,000 career digs earlier on this home stand, recorded her 11th double-double of the season with 16 digs accompanying her career high 19 kills. Linkous' 16 kills were one shy of her career high mark, Grace Ann Moorhouse had 22 digs which were two shy of her career high, and Alyssa Rupert had 14 digs which were one shy of her career high.
 
Jessica Davenport tallied 12 digs and 44 assists to surpass 1,000 assists for the season.
 
After seven straight matches at home, Milligan will return to some road competition its next time out. The Buffs will travel to Lebanon for Cumberland University on Friday, Oct. 30, before coming back to Steve Lacy Fieldhouse for Union on Tuesday, Nov. 3.