The Lancaster Bible men's volleyball team played some of its best volleyball of the season on Thursday night at Horst Athletic Center, but New Jersey City proved to be too much as the Gothic Knights defeated the Chargers, 3-0. New Jersey City won, 25-18, 33-31, 25-20 and improved to 7-4 this season, while the Chargers fell to 1-13.

After dropping the first set, the Chargers stormed out of the gate in the second set and led 9-2. Lancaster Bible would eventually extend the lead to 20-8 thanks to timely kills and the Chargers ability to take advantage of New Jersey City errors. After a ball-handling error by the Chargers, the Gothic Knights ripped off five straight kills to cut the deficit to 20-14. Kills from freshman Justin Stoltzfus on two of the next three points gave Lancaster Bible a 22-15 advantage as the Chargers looked to close in on their first set win in almost three weeks.

The Gothic Knights refused to quit however and rallied to tie the set at 22-22 thanks to three service aces and four kills. Lancaster Bible finally did earn a chance to close the set as the Chargers led 24-23, but New Jersey City fought off the set point to extend the set. Neither team could string points together and win the set following the 24-24 tie as the Gothic Knights saved four set points, while the Chargers saved three. 

With the second set tied at 31-31, back-to-back kills from Bill Le and Nick Poh finally clinched the set for New Jersey City and the Gothic Knights took a 2-0 match lead.

The Chargers played tough in the third set and tried to put together their own comeback after trailing 16-8 midway through the set. Lancaster Bible eventually cut the deficit to 21-19, but New Jersey City rallied and scored four of the final five points of the set to sweep the match, 3-0.

Stoltzfus and senior Nathan Diehl each had six kills for the Chargers. Stoltzfus added two blocks, while Diehl had 12 digs and two blocks. Sophomore Derek Bigley had another strong match as he totaled five kills, 13 digs and three blocks. Freshman Caleb Strite had a team-high four blocks, while senior Paul Fulbright had four kills, 20 assists and three blocks.

Alex Woelkers chipped in with two kills and three blocks and Justin Bendo added a dig for the Chargers who have lost 10 straight matches. 

Bill Le (11) and Sheldon Coure (13) each had double-digit kills for the Gothic Knights.

Lancaster Bible returns to the court next Friday when the Chargers face Hilbert at 4 p.m. in Altoona, Pa. The Chargers will take on D'Youville (11 a.m.) and Medaille (7 p.m.) the following day as well in Altoona as part of the third North Eastern Athletic Conference weekend.