DALTON, Ga. (Sept. 5, 2015) â€" After falling short in a thrilling comeback effort in the second match of the day, the Milligan College volleyball team dropped matches to Life University and Dalton State University Saturday afternoon in Dalton, Georgia.

The Buffaloes fell to Life in the first match in four sets 3-1 (25-10, 21-25, 25-20, 25-16), and then lost to Dalton State in five sets after going down 2-0 and winning the next two before falling 3-2 (25-20, 25-17, 22-25, 14-25, 15-11). With the two losses, Milligan's record dropped to 4-3 on the year.

In the opening match against Life, Jessica Davenport led with 27 assists, and Grace Ann Moorhouse and Samantha Bruinius added 14 and 13 digs, respectively. Jenna Headrick led the attack with nine kills, while Marissa Langford and Emilee Linkous each added seven.

In the second match against Dalton State, the Buffs' attack was led by Langford and Linkous, who had 15 and 10 kills, respectively. Bruinius added eight kills, while Davenport finished with a strong effort by dishing out 46 assists. Moorhouse also had an effective match with 24 digs and four assists, while Jadin Foster and Headrick each added two service aces. Lastly, freshmen Alyssa Rupert finished with nine digs, while Foster, Davenport and Bruinius each ended with seven.

Against Life, the Buffs went down early in the first set 7-1, and were never able to recover, going down 10-2, 12-4, 15-8 and 19-9 before falling 25-10. In the second set, after finding itself down 6-5, Milligan never looked back and went on to hold leads at 11-9, 15-12, 18-15 and 23-18 before winning the set 25-21.

The third and fourth sets were all in Life's favor as it expanded a 9-5 lead in the third set into a 13-7 lead. After Milligan got to within two at 21-19, Life used a 4-1 run to close out the set at 25-20. Lastly, after the Buffs led 5-4 in the fourth set, Life used a 7-0 run to take an 11-6 advantage, which it expanded to 16-11 and 19-13 before sealing the deal 25-16.

Against Dalton State in the second match, Milligan had an early 3-1 lead before a 7-2 Roadrunner run gave them an 8-5 advantage. The Buffs then tied the set at eight before the Roadrunners scored seven straight times to make it 15-8. Milligan tried to battle back and got the set to within two points at 22-20, but ultimately fell 25-20. Davenport finished with 10 assists in the set, while Bruinius and Langford had five and four kills, respectively.

In the second set against the Roadrunners, an 8-8 tie turned into a 12-9 lead for the Buffs, but a 4-1 Dalton State run tied it again at 13. The set became tied again at 16, but the Roadrunners used a 9-1 run to close out the set at 25-17 and take a 2-0 lead. Moorhouse had a strong set with seven digs, while Bruinius had four digs and three kills.

The Buffs started strong in the third set up 8-5 before Dalton State tied it at nine. A 7-3 Milligan run made it 16-12 before the Roadrunners got five straight points to take a one-point lead at 17-16. The Buffs responded and took a 20-18 lead, but another run by the Roadrunners made it 22 all before Milligan took the final three points to win its first set of the match at 25-22.

Moorhouse had another strong set defensively with eight digs, and Davenport had 10 assists for the second time in the match, while Bailey Thomas came on strong with her first three kills of the match, including two on the 22nd and 23rd points of the set to help push the Buffs over the top.

In the fourth set, a 4-4 tie followed by a five-point Milligan run pushed it to 9-4, and the Buffs never looked back, expanding their lead to seven at 14-7, and then to 12 and 20-8, all before closing it out 25-14 to force and fifth and final set.

Davenport was exceptional in the fourth set, dishing out 13 assists, while the Milligan attackers really took over, recording kills on 14 of the Buffs final 19 points of the set, including four by Langford, Headrick and Linkous. Additionally, Thomas added three more kills, while Foster aided the Milligan cause with two aces.

The final set was close throughout and was also within one point until the scoring reached double-digits, but two four point leads for Dalton State at 12-8 and 13-9 was just enough space for the Roadrunners to finish the job and win the set 15-11. The Buffs' attackers again tried to spark a comeback, scoring four kills on four late points for the Buffs, but it wasn't enough.

Next up, Milligan tries to get its first road victory of the season as the Buffs travel to Barbourville, Kentucky, to take on the Bulldogs of Union College on Sept. 8, in what is also their first road Appalachian Athletic Conference match of the season.