COLUMBIA, Ky. (Sept. 2, 2017) â€" The Milligan College volleyball team finished out its second weekend of tournament-style play on Saturday with two matches at Lindsey Wilson College's Crossover Tournament. Milligan lost to Martin Methodist College in three sets (25-23, 27-25, 25-23) before falling to University of Mobile, also in three sets (25-14, 25-4, 25-15).
 
Senior Marissa Langford led the Buffs (2-6) in the opening match of the day with 15 kills and 14 digs. Fellow senior Alora Ricker also earned a double-double with 10 kills and 14 digs, while sophomore setter Kellee Geren tallied 27 assists and junior libero Alyssa Rupert had 22 digs.
 
All three sets were tightly contested in the opening match against Martin Methodist, but the RedHawks were able to come away victorious in each. In the first set, Milligan held a 22-20 advantage until Martin Methodist closed the set on a 5-1 run. Similarly in the third set, Milligan led 22-17 until an 8-1 run closed the match out for Martin Methodist.
 
In Milligan's second match of the day, which was also the final match of the tournament, the Buffs fell behind early and could never battle back. Six Buffs registered at least one kill, led by Langford and Ricker who had four apiece. 
 
For the weekend, Langford led the Buffs with 54 kills across 15 sets while Geren had 109 assists and Rupert had 80 digs. Rupert ranked in the top five for the tournament defensively with an average of 5.3 digs per set.
 
The Crossover Tournament was also represented by two other Appalachian Athletic Conference schools. Union College went 2-2 on the weekend while Bryan College went 0-4. Among common opponents, Union defeated Bethel in four sets but lost to Mobile in four sets. Bryan lost to both Martin Methodist and Bethel in straight sets.
 
Milligan's next match on the schedule is a nonconference meeting at UVa.-Wise on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. The Buffs then have an AAC match on Thursday at Montreat College before returning home for AAC opponent, Union, on Tuesday, Sept. 12.