MILLIGAN, Tenn. — Milligan University's women's volleyball squad faced off with the Tennessee Wesleyan University Bulldogs on Thursday night inside Steve Lacy Fieldhouse, in desperate need of an Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) victory to give them a chance to potentially reach the AAC Tournament. The Buffaloes fell by either seven or eight points in each set of the match in a straight-sets loss (18-25, 17-25, 18-25).
In the first set, Milligan fell behind 8-2 over the first 10 points. After a
Doneva Bays timeout, the Buffs stormed back, tying the score at 11 after a 9-3 run. Tennessee Wesleyan would grab the next four points, though, to take a 15-11 lead. The Buffs would not go away, scoring the following three to trail by just one at 15-14. That was when TWU broke away, putting forth a 10-4 run over the last 14 points to take the opening set, 25-18.
The second set was a battle until the same 15-14 mark, when the Bulldogs scored six points in a row to nab a 21-14 lead. They'd eventually topple the Buffs by a 25-17 tally.
After falling behind 15-8, the Buffaloes showed a bit of grit in the third set, going on a 6-1 run to reach a 16-14 deficit. Then, though, that run was nearly stolen back, as TWU tallied the next four points to lead 20-14. Eventually, Tennessee Wesleyan matched their set-one win by taking a 25-18 triumph to sweep Milligan.
Bella Devoti had a strong match as an attacker, totaling 11 kills on just 27 attempts. She had just four errors and finished with a .259 hitting percentage.
Erin Littleton had five kills on 14 tries with a trio of errors.
Ashton Blair (3),
Kyndl Hodge (2),
Taylor Brinn,
Clare Clark and
Lacie Weatherman all had putaways, as well. The squad hit at just a .028 percentage across the three sets. Hodge passed out all 22 of the team's assists.
Olivia Schoenstra provided a team-best 10 digs, with
Rachel Bass finishing just behind her with nine. Brinn picked up eight, and Blair added seven, while Hodge notched four. Devoti and Clark both had one dig apiece. Sox block assists were totaled by the Buffaloes, with Clark providing three of those. Blair supplied a pair, and the other block assist came via Brinn.
The Buffaloes (4-18, 4-14 AAC) now must win their final regular-season matchup against the Bryan College Lions on Friday evening at 6:30 p.m. If they are able to pull off the upset, they would still be mathematically in the hunt for the No. 10 seed in the AAC Tournament.
