Milligan Women's Volleyball Finishes Road Trip with Sweep of Pikeville

PIKEVILLE, Ky. – On Tuesday evening, the Milligan University volleyball squad went on the road for their third straight bout away from the comforts of Steve Lacy Fieldhouse. They did battle with the University of Pikeville Bears in Pikeville, Ky., looking to jump to 2-1 in Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) play. The Buffaloes came away with a three-set triumph, sweeping away the Bears.

With the victory, Milligan moves to above .500 for the second time this season, reaching a 6-5 overall record and a 2-1 record within AAC play. Pikeville drops to 6-3 overall and 1-2 in the AAC. 

In the opening set, the Buffs roared out of the gate, scoring nine of the first 11 points in the match before Pikeville's first timeout. Milligan carried a 16-11 advantage over the remainder of the set to coast to a 25-13 win of the stanza. The Buffaloes attacked at a season-best .344 clip in the set. 

Set number two got off to a much more even start, as UPIKE took four of the first six points. From that point on, the two squads traded body blows until Milligan surged ahead. Tied at 16-16, the Buffs scored nine of the next 13 points to take the set 25-20. It was not quite as impressive as the opening set, but Milligan still held a large advantage statistically, attacking at .297 in comparison to Pikeville's .132 percentage. 

Following another slow start for Milligan, in which the Bears scored six of the first nine tallies, head coach Doneva Bays called the Buffaloes first timeout of the match. From there, the Buffaloes rallied back slowly but surely to a 13-12 lead halfway through the set. Then, however, UPIKE matched that comeback with an even more impressive one. The hosts scored seven out of the next nine points to take a commanding 19-15 advantage. That run prompted another Milligan timeout, which rallied the Buffs to tie the score at 23-23, within reach of a conference sweep. An attacking error by Pikeville, followed by a kill from Ella Maiden won Milligan the set 25-23 to obtain the straight-sets victory. 

The Buffs had a balanced attack between the trio of E. Maiden (12 kills), Avery Maiden (12 kills) and Shelby Miller (11 kills), who combined for 35 putaways on a total of 79 attacks with only seven combined errors. E. Maiden was especially unbelievable, hitting at a .706 clip with zero errors. Kolbie Greene set the table for 32 assists on the evening, averaging nearly 11 per set. 

Zoie Larkins led the squad with 15 pickups in the three-set contest, followed by Riley Brinn, who had 11. Greene added eight to the effort, while Sierra Still provided seven. Kira Ryan and E. Maiden added solo blocks to the effort. 

Next on the slate is a weekend triangular, in which Milligan hosts St. Andrews at 11 a.m. in their first home AAC tilt, prior to a non-conference matchup with Lees-McRae at 3 p.m. at Steve Lacy Fieldhouse.