CHICAGO (Sept. 10, 2016) â€" After falling for the first time in nine matches Friday night, the Milligan College volleyball team quickly got back on the winning track with two wins on Saturday. The Buffaloes defeated Roosevelt University 3-1 (25-18, 25-20, 16-25, 25-19) and University of Rio Grande 3-0 (27-25, 25-15, 26-24) at a tournament hosted by Roosevelt this weekend.
 
Milligan (11-3, 2-0 Appalachian Athletic Conference) was led by Samantha Bruinius who had 31 kills in the two matches, and Marissa Langford who had 21 kills with only two errors and attacked at a rate of .422. Freshman setter Kellee Geren tallied 66 assists and 16 digs, while Grace Ann Moorhouse led the defensive effort with 39 digs.
 
In the first match of the day, Milligan jumped out to a game lead over Roosevelt and was tied with the Lakers at 17-17 in game two. From there, the Buffs closed the game on an 8-3 run, finishing with a Bailey Thomas/Julie Dockery block, to gain a comfortable lead which they would not relinquish.
 
Thomas also played an important part of the second match of the day. With the opening set against Rio going back and forth and Milligan eventually going ahead 26-25, Thomas finished the set with her second kill to give Milligan the early lead.
 
It was then the same story in the third game as Milligan needed an extra point to seal the second win. After Milligan had erased a 24-22 deficit to take the lead 25-24, Thomas finished the match off with her eighth kill of the match and 14th of the day.
 
Milligan returns home for its next match, facing Truett-McConnell University on Tuesday, Sept. 13, at Steve Lacy Fieldhouse. The AAC match is scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m.