SWANNANOA, N.C.— Montreat College's volleyball team hosted the Milligan University Buffaloes in an Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) contest Thursday evening. The Buffs came away with a road sweep, beating the Cavs with set scores of 25-17, 25-13 and 25-17. With the defeat, the Cavaliers moved to 0-12 overall and in AAC play. The visitors improved to 5-18 overall with a 4-7 conference record.
Montreat opened the first set with a strong start, highlighted by
Cizzie Griffin's two service aces. The Cavs quickly took a 5-0 lead in the early going of the initial frame.
Maggie Stewart and
Sarah Alderman contributed with kills, maintaining the Cavaliers' advantage early in the match. However, the Buffaloes gradually closed the gap, capitalizing on errors from the hosts. Multiple kills from
Josie Leatherman and
Ella Rose Livingston regained momentum for Montreat. It wasn't enough, though, as MU went on a 16-4 run to take the first frame of the match, 25-17.
In the second set of action, the Cavaliers got on the board first from an attack error, but the momentum quickly shifted. The Buffs responded with a significant run, scoring the next seven points. Four of them came via blocks from the visitors. The defensive overload prompted a timeout from Montreat after trailing 7-1. After the break,
Genesis Hernandez made an impact off the bench with a kill, and
Elizabeth Harrington added another, narrowing the deficit to 8-3. However, Milligan continued to capitalize on attack errors from Montreat, rebuilding its advantage to 16-9. A late surge for the Buffaloes allowed the visitors to conclude the set with a 25-13 victory.
Harrington added another kill to her tally to start the final set. Griffin assisted Harrington's kill as she was regularly passing out dimes. She finished with a career-high 18 assists. Stewart also swung for multiple kills in the final frame and contributed with a personal-best of nine kills during the match. The performance surpassed her previous total of eight kills, which was achieved on Nov. 9, 2024, against Kentucky Christian University. Midway through the frame, Montreat managed to tie the score at 8-8 thanks to a kill from
Sophie Duckworth. However, Milligan responded with a strong run, capitalizing on attack errors and a duo of aces to shift momentum back in its favor. The Buffaloes closed the set on a 9-2 spurt, ending the match with a 25-17 set triumph.
"It was a tough night where we didn't connect the way we needed to," said head coach
Cristina Viera. "Our goal remains the same. We need to meet our standards by coming together, trusting our system and competing as a unified team."
Stewart led the team with her nine kills, and she also contributed nine digs. She had the best hitting percentage among players with at least five attack attempts as well. Her mark of .286 was the best this season for the junior from Manchester, Mich.
Allie Anderson was active defensively with 12 digs, her seventh game this season with double digits in that category. Harrington added eight kills and one service ace. Both Harrington and Duckworth were credited with the Cavs' lone block.
As a team, Montreat finished with 30 total kills from 112 attacks for a team hitting percentage of -.018. The Buffaloes had a mark of .310 on the day with 36 kills on 84 attempts. The Cavs had five aces while Milligan had four. The visitors concluded the day with more blocks (8-1), assists (35-30) and digs (40-35) than the hosts.
In their next game, the Cavs will travel to Columbia, S.C., to face the Columbia International University Rams on Oct. 21. The match is set for 6:30 p.m.
