MILLIGAN, Tenn. – Saturday morning inside Steve Lacy Fieldhouse, the Milligan University women's volleyball team battled against Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) opponent Columbia International University (CIU). The Buffaloes dropped three straight sets to fall 3-0 (22-25, 18-25, 19-25). The loss moves Milligans overall record to 4-18 and their AAC record to 3-7. 

In the opening set CIU (11-5, 7-1 AAC) took an early 5-1 lead. The Rams steadily increased their lead to 15-9, until Milligan scored four of the next five points behind errors from the Rams and a Shelby Miller kill. The Rams responded with a 5-1 scoring run, and despite late pressure from the Buffs, would go on to win the set by a score of 25-22.  

In the second set, the Buffaloes once again fell behind early. A 10-4 run to start the set from CIU eventually turned into their biggest lead of 22-9. The Buffs did not go away and responded with a 7-0 run behind Rams errors, a Miller kill, and a Taylor Brinn ace. Following the run, Miller and Courtney Nye added two more kills but it was not enough, as the Rams took the set 25-18 to extend their lead to 2-0. 

To begin set number three, both sides traded points until a Bella Devoti kill gave the Buffs a 17-15 lead. From there, the Rams took over with an 8-0 run and never relinquished the lead, as they ended up taking the third and final set by a score of 25-19 and the match 3-0.  


Devoti's 13 kills on 33 swings led her to a team-high attacking percentage of .273. Miller took the most swings with 42 which led to 12 kills and six errors for an attacking percentage of .143. Faith Wilson dished out all 33 assists for the Buffs. Defensively, Grace Sanderson totaled 20 digs. Taylor Brinn had seven, while Miller added five.

Next up for MU is a trip to Black Mountain, N.C. for an AAC matchup with Montreat on Thursday Oct. 16 at 6;30 p.m. This will start a four-game road stretch that concludes Friday Oct. 24 when Milligan returns home for a matchup with Columbia (S.C.) at 6:30 p.m.