MILLIGAN, Tenn. — The Milligan University women's volleyball team returned to Steve Lacy Fieldhouse for the second straight day for another Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) matchup. This time around, they faced the perennial powerhouse, Reinhardt University, and fell in three sets (25-14, 25-16, 25-13).
To open the contest, Milligan battled and were trailing by just one point at the 12-11 mark. From there, however, the Eagles turned it on and pulled off a 13-3 run to conclude the set and take an early edge over the Buffaloes.
A very similar script was followed in the second set, with the Buffs and Eagles matching each other all the way until the 12-11 mark in favor of RU, again. Milligan had a one-point lead twice in that period, prior to that point, but Reinhardt had another strong conclusion of the set. They finished on a 13-5 stretch, putting MU down two sets to none.
Reinhardt had a better third set from start to finish, as they never trailed. After Milligan was behind by a score of 6-4, the Eagles extended that lead to 12-5 with six of the next seven points, and Milligan eventually dropped the set by a final of 25-13 to complete Reinhardt's sweep.
It was
Bella Devoti's seven kills that led the way for MU on the attack. She had just three errors in the match, giving her squad a chance on each point.
Erin Littleton and
Ashton Blair added four kills apiece, while Littleton took 11 swings with only a single miscue.
Clare Clark added two terminations on five attempts without an error.
Kyndl Hodge dished out all 14 Milligan assists.
Olivia Schoenstra gad a team-best nine digs in the bout, and she was followed by
Taylor Brinn (8), Blair (7),
Rachel Bass (6) and Hodge (6), completing the list of defenders with multiple ups. Milligan had five total blocks, all assisted. Littleton had three block assists, Clark and Devoti supplied two and Hodge, Blair and
Lacie Weatherman added one each.
The Buffaloes (1-10, 1-6 AAC) are back at it on Tuesday, Sept. 29 when they head to the University of Pikeville in Pikeville, Ky. for a 6:30 p.m. first serve in another AAC tilt.
