The Lancaster Bible women's volleyball team opened the newly renovated Horst Athletic Center on Friday night with a 3-0 loss to Lancaster County neighbor Elizabethtown. The Blue Jays swept the Chargers, 26-24, 25-20, 25-17 in the opening match of the Crosstown Crossover, which also features Franklin & Marshall and Penn St. Berks. (F&M defeated Penn St. Berks, 3-0 on Friday at F&M.)

The first set was back-and-forth battle as no team held a lead larger than three points during the entire set. With the match tied at 13-13, the Blue Jays strung together three straight points thanks to two straight Lancaster Bible errors and a kill from Mackenzie Garner. The Chargers battled right back however and won five of the next six points to take an 18-17 lead on an Elizabethtown attacking error. The Blue Jays rebounded and took the next three points to regain a 20-18 lead.

Elizabethtown would eventually earn a set point as they had a 24-23 lead, but a kill from sophomore Myranda Kemrer extended Lancaster Bible's set one life, only to have the Blue Jays rattle off the next two points and take the set, 26-24. 

The Blue Jays took an early lead in the second set and though the Chargers closed the gap to 11-10 at one point, Elizabethtown went on to win the set, 25-20. 

The third set resembled the first as it was close for the majority of the time, but the Blue Jays stepped on the gas at the end of set and pulled away from Lancaster Bible. The Chargers took a 14-13 lead on back-to-back attacking errors by Elizabethtown, but the Blue Jays won 12 of the final 15 points of the set to earn a 25-17 victory and the sweep.

"I thought we put some things together that we have been working on and we had good energy during the match," Lancaster Bible Head Coach Lauren Bewley said. "We need to play with a little more urgency, but I liked our effort tonight."

Kemrer led the Chargers with eight kills, while junior Emily Olson had five kills and three blocks. Freshman Hannah Gipe had a match-high 14 digs and senior Grace Scheuerman added 12 digs. Senior Hannah Derr had 20 assists and eight digs as well as three of Lancaster Bible's five service aces. Derr's first ace of the night was the 100th of her career.

Lancaster Bible will play Penn St. Berks and F&M on Saturday in Reading, Pa. The Chargers face the Nittany Lions at 12 p.m. and the Diplomats at 2 p.m.