Milligan clinches AAC North with 11th straight win

MILLIGAN COLLEGE, Tenn. (Nov. 7, 2019) – For the second year in a row the Milligan College volleyball team wins the Appalachian Athletic Conference North Division, this year beating Union in the final game of the regular season in three sets (25-15, 25-23, 25-23) inside Steve Lacy Fieldhouse Thursday night.

How it happened

Milligan came out dominant in the first set, only allowing Union the lead at the beginning. The Buffs then went on a 12-3 run to increase their lead to 16-8. Milligan finished the first set with 14 kills and a hitting percentage of .333 compared to Union's hitting percentage of .027.

The second set was back and forth between the two teams as it came down to the final point of regulation score ending to determine a winner. Two Milligan kills by Julia Codispoti and Alyssa Gibson and two Union attack errors gave Milligan a 24-21 lead before Union attempted to rally back, scoring two points to make it 24-23. Milligan however was able to put the set away with a kill by Carley Gregory. Gregory and Julie Dockery each recorded three kills in the second set to have their kill totals be six and seven respectively. Codispoti had eight kills after the first two sets.

In the third set Union was poised to send the match into a fourth set with the score being 21-12. Milligan then went on a 13-2 run and defeated the Bulldogs to win the match and ultimately the AAC North. Back to back kills by Gregory and Layla Grant secured the last two points in the game to give Milligan the win.

By the numbers

Milligan ended the night with 45 kills. Three Buffs had double digit kills, Gregory with 12 and Codispoti and Dockery with 10 apiece. Gibson had nine with four being in the final set.

Kellee Geren recorded a match high of 38 assists and the defense was led by Grant, Ashelyn Vandergriff and Cameron McConnell who had 18, 14 and 10 digs apiece.

Up next

Milligan will enter the AAC tournament next week as the No. 3 seed behind Reinhardt (21-0 AAC) at No. 1 and Point (19-2 AAC) at No. 2. The tournament will begin Wednesday, Nov. 13, and will be held at MeadowView Conference Resort and Convention Center next with game times to be released at a later date. As the No. 3 seed, Milligan's first game will be on Thursday in the quarterfinal round.