SWANNANOA, N.C. — On Thursday evening, the Milligan University women's volleyball team took to the court at Asheville Christian Academy in Swannanoa, N.C., as they battled the Montreat College Cavaliers in an Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) contest. The Buffaloes ended up fighting through early-match woes to earn their first sweep of the 2025 campaign.
The first set of the battle started quite slowly for the Buffs, as they allowed five of the first six points in the bout. They slowly worked themselves back into the tilt, trailing by as few as one point at 9-8, but Montreat extended that lead to 12-8 with three points in a row to force the Buffaloes to take their first timeout. After the break, Milligan scored six of the following seven points to earn their first lead of the match at 14-13, leading to Montreat's first timeout in the stanza. The Buffs rolled through the rest of the set, rebounding from their sluggish start to win 25-17.
After snagging the first set, MU raced out front to begin the second, scoring a 5-1 run before a quick timeout taken by the Cavaliers. That stoppage did not change the momentum, as the Buffaloes continued to score at will, reaching an 18-10 lead prior to the next MC timeout. Montreat would score just three more points in the set, eventually leading to a 25-13 triumph by Milligan. The Buffs attacked at a ridiculous .480 clip in the frame.
Entering a set in which the Buffaloes could clinch their first sweep of the AAC slate, they came out a bit flat, as the Cavaliers were the first team to five points in the stanza at 5-3. The Buffaloes slowly, but surely, made their way back into the lead for the first time in the frame at 12-11. They then continued to add to that edge, creeping out to an 18-15 lead at the first timeout of the set, which was taken by the Cavs. Just two points later, Montreat had to go to the stoppage well again, as the Buffs led 20-15. There was not much in respect to resistance from the Cavaliers for the rest of the frame, as MU took home their first conference sweep of the 2025 campaign after winning the final set 25-17.
Shelby Miller was on fire all night long, amassing 15 kills on only 25 swings with just a pair of errors. She had her strongest attacking night of the season in terms of efficiency, totaling a .520 clip on the outside. It was not just Miller chipping in, as
Bella Devoti also had 10 kills on 27 swings and
Kira Ryan converted six of her 12 attempts.
Faith Wilson led the way with 29 assists and
Kyndl Hodge added a quartet of her own.
Grace Sanderson's 12 digs earned her the top mark on the team in the victory, with
Riley Brinn as the next-most prolific in that category with seven. Miller and Wilson added five apiece, and
Olivia Schoenstra picked up three. Devoti,
Taylor Brinn and
Addison Varney also had multiple digs, with two each. The block was a deadly weapon for the Buffaloes in the win, as 16 block assists amounted to eight blocked swings on the night. Varney led the way with five, while Miller was right behind her with four.
Courtney Nye helped out on three blocks,
Erin Littleton took part in two and both Devoti and Ryan were involved in one.
With the victory, the Buffaloes now hold a 4-7 AAC mark and have won three of their last four matches entering this Saturday's bout at Truett McConnell University in Cleveland, Ga. at 1 p.m.
