MILLIGAN, Tenn. — The Milligan University women's volleyball team played their final regular-season match of the 2026 season on Friday night inside Steve Lacy Fieldhouse, hosting the Bryan College Lions. With a win, the Buffaloes could still potentially earn a berth to the Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) Tournament, but an eventual 3-1 (16-25, 22-25, 30-28, 16-25) loss to the Lions ended their season.
The first set of the tilt was competitive until the 10-8 mark, as Bryan led by two points at that juncture. But, a 9-2 run by the visitors put the Buffaloes well out of reach for the set, as a 19-10 deficit ended up in a 25-16 loss in the opener by the Buffaloes.
An impressive amount of fight was shown by the Buffs in the second set, as they battled to a 15-15 tie through 30 points. Then, a run by Milligan put them ahead 21-17, as that 6-2 stretch put them on the precipice of tying the match score. However, Bryan flipped the script, scoring six points in a row to lead 23-21. The Buffaloes fell flat, eventually giving up two of the final three points, and an 8-1 run overall. They fell 25-22 and were in a 2-0 hole.
With a 10-10 tie on the scoreboard in the third set, Milligan rattled off another 6-2 run to take a 16-12 lead. From there, the team traded the next 10 points to reach a familiar spot, 21-17 in favor of the Buffaloes. A similar result looked to be occurring, as Bryan notched a 5-1 run to tie the score at 22-22. The two teams would trade points back and forth until the 28-28 mark, when a service ace by
Olivia Schoenstra and a kill by
Ashton Blair gave MU a do-or-die win by the score of 30-28.
Unfortunately, the momentum did not carry over to the fourth set for Milligan, as they gave up seven of the first nine points. From there, the Buffs did get to within three points on two occasions, but it was a nine-point deficit by the end of the set. The Buffaloes fell 25-16 to clinch a 3-1 loss to the Lions.
Ashton Blair scored a team-best 15 kills on 49 attempts. Her 15 putaways equaled the most in her freshman season at Milligan.
Erin Littleton and
Bella Devoti concluded their nights with seven kills apiece. Outside of those three, only
Lacie Weatherman (3) and
Kyndl Hodge (2) had multiple terminations. Hodge also passed out all 32 assists in the contest for the Buffs.
Hodge and
Rachel Bass led the way with 10 digs each, and
Taylor Brinn added nine. Blair picked up eight, Devoti provided six, and Schoenstra had a trio. Weatherman and
Morgan Lambert had the two remaining pickups. Eight block assists were tallied by Millligan, including three from Devoti, two from both Weatherman and Littleton, and one from Lambert.
Milligan (4-19, 4-15 AAC) has now been eliminated from AAC Tournament contention, as they will now work on development in the offseason for their young roster, with their sights set on a return to conference prominence in the Fall of 2027.
