MILLIGAN COLLEGE, Tenn. (Nov. 3, 2015) â€" Seniors Savannah Benton, Jessica Davenport, Heather Harvey, Jenna Headrick and Emilee Linkous celebrated their Milligan College careers prior to Tuesday night's Appalachian Athletic Conference battle for second place, but the Buffs fell to Union College 3-1 (22-25, 25-22, 25-20, 25-20) in the final home match of the season.

With the loss and only two matches left in the regular season, Milligan (17-13, 12-6 AAC) will have either the three or the four seed in next week's Appalachian Athletic Conference tournament. Union (21-11, 14-4 AAC) will still have a chance to win the AAC regular season title.
 
Milligan and Union entered the match one game apart in the AAC with rights to second place on the line. The Buffs came out of the gates strong, taking a set lead and holding a 22-21 advantage in the second, but Union closed it on a 4-0 run and remained in control the rest of the match.
 
Linkous led the Buffs with 16 kills while Samantha Bruinius and Marissa Langford followed closely with 14 and 13, respectively. Davenport earned 47 assists.
 
Benton and Headrick were apart of seven of the Buffs 13 points to end with a block, including one that gave Milligan the opening set. After a back-and-forth first half to the set, Headrick had a kill and Linkous a service ace during a 3-0 run that gave Milligan some separation at 15-12. The three points proved to be the difference as Benton and Headrick's block ended it 25-22.
 
The second set was back-and-forth as well and featured a 3-0 run, this time by Union, at the same point as in the first. Two service aces were key during that stretch as Union went ahead 15-12 and looked to stay in the lead until a 4-0 run by Milligan put the Buffs on top 22-21.
 
Union closed the second set, however, on a 4-0 run of its own and went on to take the third and fourth sets by the same score line. In the fourth, Milligan looked to battle back and draw the match even after a 5-1 run made it 18-17, but like the second set, the lead was short-lived.
 
On the defensive side, Milligan was led by Grace Ann Moorhouse's 20 digs. Two other Buffs, Davenport and Bruinius, reached double figures in that category, and Harvey had nine.
 
With the home schedule over, Milligan will be on the road for the last two matches. First up will be St. Andrews University (18-8, 12-6 AAC) in Laurinburg, North Carolina, on Friday, Nov. 6, at 6:30 p.m. The regular season will conclude for the Buffs on Saturday, Nov. 7, at 1 p.m. at Columbia College. SAU and Columbia are currently fourth and fifth in the AAC.