SPARTANBURG, S.C. — Milligan University's women's volleyball team was back in action on Friday evening on the road against Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) opponent of the Spartanburg Methodist College Pioneers. The Buffs were looking for their second conference victory of the year, but after comeback attempts came up short in the first two sets, a tightly contested third set also went the way of SMC, as the Pioneers swept Milligan in three sets, 21-25, 21-25 and 24-26.
Milligan fell behind early in the first set, as four service aces by Spartanburg Methodist gave them an 8-1 advantage out of the gates. The Buffs responded with a 10-2 scoring run behind kills from
Erin Littleton,
Clare Clark and
Ashton Blair to take an 11-9 lead. From there both sides exchanged points, until the Pioneers pulled ahead following a sequence where they scored five points in a row to take a 21-16 lead. Despite a late push from the Buffs that saw them trim the deficit to three at 23-20, SMC took the set by scoring two of the final three points to capture the first set, 25-21.
The Buffs once again fell behind early in the second, as Spartanburg scored the first three points of the set. The Buffs were able to work their way back into the set, eventually knotting the score at nine, behind kills from
Taylor Brinn and Littleton. However, the Pioneers took the momentum behind a seven-point run to take an eleven-point, 24-13 advantage. The Buffs were able to extend the set by rattling off eight points in a row, but needing only one point to end the set, SMC got a kill to secure the second set, 25-21, and take a 2-0 lead.
After falling behind 2-0, MU came into the third set with a sense of urgency and flipped the script from the prior two sets by taking an early 5-2 lead behind a Blair kill and a Littleton ace. The Buffs continued with that momentum and held a 16-12 lead, before extending it to 21-14 behind kills from Blair. However, the Pioneers turned the tide with an eight-point run midway through the set to take a 21-22 lead. From there, both sides exchanged points until the score was knotted at 24, when SMC scored back-to-back points to take the third set, 26-24, and the match 3-0 to hand Milligan an AAC loss.
Blair paced the Buffs offensively, posting 13 kills on 37 attempts to hit .189 for the match. Brinn followed with five kills on 22 swings, while Littleton chipped in four kills at a team-best .286 clip.
Lacie Weatherman added three kills and Clark collected a pair, with
Kyndl Hodge and
Aleah Pickett each responsible for one termination apiece. Hodge also ran the Milligan offense, dishing out 24 of the team's 28 assists, with
Rachel Bass and
Olivia Schoenstra adding two apiece.
Brinn also led the Buffs defensively with nine digs, with Schoenstra close behind at seven and Hodge adding six from the back row. Blair chipped in four digs, Bass had three, and Littleton finished with two. At the net, Clark and Blair teamed up for a block assist, with Clark also picking up a solo stop and Littleton recording one of her own.
Milligan (1-12, 1-8 AAC) will stay on the road with an AAC match against Columbia International University scheduled for tomorrow Saturday, Oct. 3, at 11 a.m.
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