FORT WAYNE, Ind. – Milligan University women's volleyball's second day at the Liz Lykowski Memorial Tournament concluded on Saturday evening, as the Buffaloes suffered the same fate they experienced on Friday, with a pair of straight-set losses to Defiance College (Ohio) and Indiana University-Southeast.
Game 1 – Defiance 3, Milligan 0 (25-15, 25-17, 25-17)
After starting the first contest of the day by splitting the first eight points, Milligan surrendered an 11-3 run to fall behind 15-7. From there, the Yellow Jackets owned the set, closing out a 10-point win at 25-15.
Milligan was on the periphery throughout the majority of the second stanza, getting to within one point at 12-11. They then trailed 20-17 with an opportunity to fight back into the set, but Defiance rattled off five straight points to decisively slam the door on the Buffs.
The Buffaloes' 4-2 lead to start the third set turned into a 7-4 deficit after five straight points by the Yellow Jackets. From then on, MU never got closer than two points, and ended the bout with an eight-point deficit at 25-17.
Bella Devoti's six kills led the team, while
Shelby Miller and
Erin Littleton provided five apiece.
Taylor Brinn and
Kira Ryan each had two.
Faith Wilson and
Kyndl Hodge evenly split 20 assists in the loss.
Grace Sanderson totaled 14 digs, and Wilson tacked on nine of her own. Six pickups were tallied by
Riley Brinn, as well. Miller was able to reject two attempts on her own and assisted
Addison Varney on the team's only other block.
Game 2 – Indiana-Southeast 3, Milligan 0 (25-20, 25-13, 25-17)
A total of 11 kills on 25 swings were tallied in the opening set by Milligan, as they had their best set of the weekend at a .375 attacking percentage. Conversely, the Grenadiers hit .452 with 20 kills in the first set. It was a tight battle between the two sides until near the midway point of the stanza. After a 10-10 tie, the IU-Southeast attack rallied for a 12-6 run to take a 22-16 lead. That would turn into a 25-20 first-set loss for Milligan.
In the second set, MU could not get out of their own way, attacking in the negatives in a 25-13 set loss.
Another good start to the third set, in which the Buffs led 5-3, went by the wayside quickly. The Grenadiers scored seven points in a row to go up 10-5, but MU clawed their way back to a 16-14 deficit. Then, however, the second seven-point run of the set for IU-Southeast made it 23-14. That surge closed the weekend out for the Buffaloes on a 25-17 defeat in the final set.
Miller had a much better performance in the battle with the Grenadiers, tallying 10 kills on 23 swings with just four errors. Devoti had another good showing, producing eight putaways on 21 tries with five miscues. Ryan had three kills on seven attempts and Littleton terminated a pair of swings. Wilson had 19 of the team's 23 assists in the loss.
Sanderson's 10 digs were, by far, the highest total on the squad. The next-most came from R. Brinn, with four. Littleton, Wilson and
Olivia Schoenstra had two each.
Milligan closed out their non-conference tournament slate at 1-10, and now has a 12-day hiatus before their first Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) bout against the Union Commonwealth University (Ky.) Bulldogs in Barbourville, Ky. at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 18.
