COLUMBIA, S.C. (Nov. 7, 2015) â€" Samantha Bruinius and Jessica Davenport both recorded a double-double, Marissa Langford added 11 kills, and Emilee Linkous played her best on the big points, all in an effort to help the Milligan College women's volleyball team to a 3-1 (25-16, 22-25, 25-20, 26-24) victory Saturday afternoon over Columbia College.
 
Milligan (18-14, 13-7 AAC) ended its regular season on a high note, snapping a four-match losing streak and defeated Columbia (13-14, 10-10 AAC) for the second time this season for its first regular-season sweep of the Koalas since defeating them three times in the 2012 season.
 
The Buffs will now set their sights on the AAC tournament, which is set to begin on Thursday, Nov. 12, at the MeadowView Marriott in Kingsport, Tennessee. Milligan will enter the tournament as the four seed, where it will play Columbia, the five seed, for the second straight match and third time this season. Columbia holds on to the five seed due to Tennessee Wesleyan College's loss to Union College earlier today.
 
Bruinius had a team-high 14 kills to go along with 14 digs for her 13th double-double of the season, while Davenport dished out 42 assists and had 11 digs for her 11th double-double of the season. Grace Ann Moorhouse added a strong 22 digs, while Linkous was effective with eight kills and a .316 attack percentage.
 
Overall, seven Buffs recorded three or more kills while 12 Buffs recorded at least one kill or one dig.
 
In the opening set, Milligan used seven kills by five players on eight straight points to turn a 7-3 lead into a 15-9 advantage. Back-to-back kills by Bailey Thomas and Savannah Benton then gave the Buffs a seven-point lead at 17-10 before Columbia battled back to get within five at 20-15.
 
Milligan went on to end the opening set thanks to back-to-back kills by Linkous and Thomas followed by an assisted block from both Linkous and Thomas to get the lead back to eight at 23-15. Milligan won the set 25-16 after another assisted block by Linkous and Thomas as well as a Columbia attack error.
 
Milligan led early in the second set, going up 10-6 on two kills by Bruinius and an ace by Linkous to start a 6-0 run, and then found itself ahead 19-14 thank to consecutive kills by Bruinius.
 
However, Columbia used a 4-0 run featuring three kills by Moriah Brookins and an assisted block by Brookins to get back within one at 19-18. Milligan went ahead 20-18 on yet another kill by Bruinius before Columbia tied it at 20 for the first time since it was 6-6 in the set.
 
Another kill by Bruinius made it 21-20, but two straight assisted blocks for Columbia and two straight kills followed by a Koala ace ended it at 25-22 in Columbia's favor.
 
Bruinius recorded her double-double with a kill to put Milligan up 10-9 in the third set, and back-to-back kills by Linkous gave the Buffs a 14-12 advantage. After Columbia battled back to tie it at 15 and again at 19 after consecutive kills both times, another kill by Bruinius followed by three Koala attack errors helped the Buffs pull away.
 
Two straight kills by Langford then gave Milligan a third-set win at 25-20. Bruinius had at least three kills and three digs in a set for the third straight set, while Davenport recorded 11 assists for her third straight set with 10 or more assists. Moorhouse was strong again in the set, adding seven digs, while Jenna Headrick recorded her first three kills of six total in the set.
 
With Milligan trailing 18-10 in the fourth and final set, the Buffs stormed back with a 7-1 run to get within one at 19-17 and went up by two at 23-21 thanks to a 6-0 run featuring a Columbia set error, an ace by Jadin Foster, a Columbia attack error, a kill by Charlie Bateman, another Columbia attack error, and an assisted block by Bateman and Davenport.
 
With a 23-23 tie, two final kills by Langford followed by another Columbia attack error ended the final set 26-24 in the Buffs favor.
 
Milligan and Columbia are scheduled to play again Thursday, Nov. 12, at the MeadowView Marriott in Kingsport, Tennessee, in the opening round of the AAC tournament. The full schedule and bracket for the single-elimination tournament will be released next week.