MILLIGAN COLLEGE, Tenn. (Aug. 28, 2015) â€" Milligan College volleyball got off to a great start in its 2015 season, sweeping the first day of the annual Mountain Madness tournament with victories over Purdue University Calumet and Shawnee State University Friday evening at the Steve Lacy Fieldhouse.

The Buffaloes went the day with only losing one set, and defeated Purdue Calumet 3-0 (25-19, 25-19, 25-20) and Shawnee State 3-1 (25-21, 25-19, 20-25, 25-23). With the two victories, Milligan will go into the second day of the tournament with a 2-0 record.

In the first match, Bailey Thomas led the way with nine kills, while Emilee Linkous and Samantha Bruinius added six and five kills, respectively. Jessica Davenport finished with 25 assists and four aces for the Buffs, while Grace Ann Moorhouse had 14 digs.

In the second match, the Buffs were paced by sophomore Marissa Langford's 16 kills and Davenport's 39 assists. Moorhouse again led the team in digs with 14, while Davenport and Langford chipped in with 13 and 12 digs, respectively. Lastly, Thomas and Linkous each finished with seven kills.

The Buffs made their mark this evening by being able to take control in the second half of sets, and never trailed when the set reached double-digit scoring in each of the first five opportunities.

Against Purdue Calumet, Milligan found itself down 5-2 early in the opening set before surging to a 14-10 lead. After the Peregrines tied it at 16, the Buffs proceeded to go on a 9-3 run to take the set at 25-19.

Next, despite being down 2-1 to start the second set, the Buffs found their stride and went on to hold large leads at 11-6, 17-11 and 22-12 before closing out the set 25-19 for the second straight time.

The third and final set of the first match was all Milligan, as the Buffs jumped out to a 7-0 lead and never looked back. The closest PUC would get was within three points, which it did three times, with the last occurrence coming with the score at 17-14 before Milligan had a 5-1 run to expand the lead to 22-15 and help secure the 25-20 victory.

After a 3-3 tie in the first set against Shawnee State, Milligan used a 9-3 run to take control at 12-6; however, after the Buffs went up 20-13, the Bears got within three at 22-19 thanks to a 6-2 run, but could not get closer than that as Milligan took the set 25-21.

Next, the Buffs began the second set down 4-0 before battling back to win seven straight points to make it 7-4. After the score was 9-9, Milligan used a 9-1 run to take the lead to 18-10 and take control of the set before winning 25-19, which was the third set the Buffs won by that margin on the evening.

The third set began with Milligan trailing 4-1 before an 8-2 run gave the Buffs a 9-6 advantage. However, the Bears proceeded to use a 14-10 run to grab a 16-13 lead, which they would not relinquish. The Buffs battled back to tie the set at 20, but could not sustain the momentum and gave up five final tallies to SSU, dropping the set 25-20.

In the fourth and final set of the match, the Buffs did not lead until the score was 13-12, and after going up 15-14, found themselves down 23-20 before scoring five straight points to take the set and the match.

The Buffs will square off against the University of Pikeville Bears and Freed-Hardeman University Lions Saturday at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., respectively.