WALESKA, Ga. (Sept. 11, 2015) â€" Despite career highs by two Buffs and entering the fourth set with a 2-1 lead, the Milligan College volleyball team could not hold off a Lady Eagles comeback, and ultimately fell 3-2 (21-25, 25-21, 17-25, 25-21, 15-13) to Reinhardt University Friday night at the Brown Athletic Center.

Samantha Bruinius' 13 kills were her career high, and Jessica Davenport kept her superb start to the season going with a career high of 48 assists, breaking her previous mark of 46 that she set last Saturday against Dalton State University.

In addition to Bruinius and Davenport's efforts, Marissa Langford had 13 kills and Emilee Linkous had 12 to tie her career high, while Langford and Grace Ann Moorhouse each added 17 digs. Additionally, Bruinius and Foster each finished with 14 and 11 digs respectively, while Foster also had two service aces.

With their fourth straight loss, Milligan's record dropped to 4-5 on the year, including 1-2 in Appalachian Athletic Conference action, while Reinhardt's rose to 5-4 and 2-0 in the AAC.

The opening set was within two points throughout until the Lady Eagles scored three straight times to take an 18-15 lead. The Buffaloes, however, then went on a comeback sparked by seven kills as they scored four straight points and eventually finished the set on a 10-3 run, taking it 25-21.

Jenna Headrick had her only four kills of the night in the first set, while Linkous and Langford added four and three respectively, and Davenport had a great start to the match with 12 assists.

The second set was dominated by Reinhardt, who went on to possess eight four-point leads before expanding its lead to five at 17-12. After the score was 20-14, Milligan used a 7-3 run to get within two before ultimately losing the set 25-21. Linkous and Langford had four and three kills respectively for the second straight set.

Milligan controlled the latter portion of the third set thanks to 10 straight points that made a 9-9 tie a 19-9 score. Despite an 8-3 Lady Eagles run to make it 22-17, the damage had been done, allowing the Buffs to win the set 25-17, and go into the fourth set in control.

Also in the third set, Langford had three kills for the third straight set, while Bruinius had four, Linkous had three to keep her strong pace going, and Charlie Bateman contributed with her first four kills of the match, while Davenport had 14 assists for her second double-digit total of the night.

Reinhardt jumped out to a 6-2 lead in the fourth set, and then went up 11-6 before Milligan scored five straight to tie it. However, the Lady Eagles then used an 8-2 run to steal the momentum and take control at 19-13. The Buffs did come back to tie the set at 21 thanks to an 8-2 run of their own, but then seemingly ran out of gas as Reinhardt finished the set with four straight points to take it 25-21 and set up a final set. Bruinius finished the set with four kills for the second straight time on the night.

In the fifth set, Milligan seemed to have things in hand up 5-1, but four straight points to start a 9-3 run got the Lady Eagles back into it. Three ties later, Reinhardt went up 14-12 to separate itself from the Buffs, who fell two points later 15-13 in a heartbreaking fashion.

The Buffs will have little time to reflect on the loss as they return to action Saturday morning at Point University in some more AAC action. The match will also be Milligan's fifth of 11 straight road matches before returning home in October.