Milligan beats CIU in four

COLUMBIA, S.C. (Oct. 25, 2019) – The Milligan College volleyball team picked up their eighth win in a row Friday night, beating Columbia International University in four sets (25-23, 24-26, 25-10, 25-20) to remain undefeated in the month of October.

Set-by-set

The first two sets came down to a two point winning margin as both the Buffs and the Rams battled it out. Milligan had 13 kills in the first set with Carley Gregory getting five kills and Julia Codispoti getting four. The score was back and forth the entire first set, but Milligan was able to gain the lead by back to back CIU attack errors and the Buffs took the lead 15-14 and did not lose it the rest of the first set.

The second set the Buffs jumped out quick, getting an early 8-3 lead over the Rams. Milligan had the lead the entire second set until three Milligan attack errors in a row gave CIU their first lead of the game at 22-21. Milligan would tie the set up two more times after that but in the end CIU picked up the victory in the second set.

Milligan turned around in the third set and quickly went to work as they went on an 11-2 run to win the set. Julie Dockery had four service aces in a row to get the final four points the Buffs needed to win. The Buffs had a hitting percentage of .300 in the third set with only one attack error.

In the fourth set Milligan only gave up the lead once at the beginning of the set and capitalized on seven CIU attack errors to win the final set and match. The Buffs went on a 10-3 run to extend their lead and pull the momentum their way to finish out the set.

By the numbers

Kellee Geren picked up her 13th double-double with 29 assists and 11 digs. Geren led the Buffs defense tonight and her main offensive target was Gregory who ended the night with 13 kills. The Buffs had 11 blocks on the night with Codispoti having five blocks alone and assisting with three blocks.

CIU was led by Mackenzie Sanchez who had a double-double with 34 assists and 12 digs, Andrea Salas with 19 digs and Megan Lung who had a match high of 20 kills.

Up next

With tonight's win the Buffs move to 13-4 in Appalachian Athletic Conference play and are two games out of first place. Milligan only has three games left of their regular season schedule. Their last road game of the season will be tomorrow, Saturday, Oct. 26, at St. Andrews starting at 11 a.m. The Buffs will then return home and face Montreat College on Tuesday, and finish their regular season schedule on Thursday, Nov. 7, against Union College inside Steve Lacy Fieldhouse.