KINGSPORT, Tenn. (Nov. 14, 2015) â€" The Milligan College volleyball team earned the 2015 Appalachian Athletic Conference tournament runner-up after falling to Union College, 3-0 (25-19, 25-23, 25-15), in the championship match Saturday afternoon at the MeadowView Marriott.
 
Seniors Samantha Bruinius and Emilee Linkous were named to the AAC All-Tournament team following Milligan's tournament run which included an upset of top-seeded Bryan in the semifinal round. Bruinius and Linkous had 13 and five kills, respectively, as Milligan ended the season with a record of 20-15 (13-7 AAC). Union (27-12, 15-5 AAC) won the tournament for the second straight season.
 
Bruinius' 13 kills led all attackers, while Marissa Langford contributed nine kills and Jessica Davenport had 29 assists.
 
Of Linkous' five kills, two came during one of the most pivotal parts of the match. With Union ahead by a set and having led by as many as six in the second, Linkous smacked down her second kill of the match to spark a 4-0 Milligan run. Two points later, she put down another kill to finish the run and tie the second set at 19-19.
 
Bruinius then followed two points later with an authoritative kill which made it 20-20, and Davenport's service ace seconds after that gave the Buffs the lead at 22-21. Jenna Headrick was next in line with a kill that glanced off the Union block attempt and down for a kill to make it 23-22, but Union took the last three points of the set to go up 2-0.
 
In the third, Milligan led 6-5 and had the set tied at 6-6 until Union went into the lead for good. The Bulldogs, at 14-12, finished the match on an 11-3 run.
 
Freshman Alyssa Rupert led the defensive effort with 10 digs while Bruinius and Grace Ann Moorhouse had nine apiece.
 
For the tournament, Bruinius led the Buffs with 38 kills in nine sets (4.2 k/s). She also had 27 digs, an assist and four assisted blocks. Linkous earned 25 kills (2.8 k/s) along with nine assisted blocks and a solo block. Davenport, the 2015 AAC Setter of the Year, assisted 94 kills (10.4 a/s). Her regular-season average for assists per set was 9.4.
 
Davenport finished her Milligan career with 3,807 assists.