The Lancaster Bible College men's volleyball team produced two bits of history on Wednesday night at Horst Athletic Center as the Chargers defeated Cairn at home for the first time and in the process set a new record for wins in a season as Lancaster Bible posted its 17th victory of the year. The 3-0 victory over the Highlanders came by scores of 25-22, 25-19, 25-19 as Lancaster Bible improved to 17-6 this season and the Highlanders fell to 3-20.

How it Happened: The first set was tied at 4-4 when the Chargers rattled off seven straight points and took an 11-4 lead. Junior Sky Woelkers had two kills during the run, while Lancaster Bible took advantage of five Cairn errors. Instead of Lancaster Bible building on its lead, it was the Highlanders who went on a run and took a 15-14 lead on an error by the Chargers. Lancaster Bible called timeout and won three of the next four points, before Cairn responded with back-to-back points to take an 18-17 lead. 

With the set tied, 19-19, Lancaster Bible won three of the next four points and took a 22-20 lead on a kill from freshman Kole Horst. The Chargers finally closed out the set a few points later as a Cairn serve went long and handed the opening set to Lancaster Bible.

The second set began much like the first as the Chargers took an early 13-5 lead, but instead of allowing Cairn back into the set, the Chargers withstood the pressure and built a 20-10 lead on three straight kills from sophomore Daniel Kreider, junior Kasey Gentry and freshman Kaleb Ansell. Though Cairn made it 23-18 later in the set, the Chargers closed out the set with kills from Gentry and Woelkers to take the second frame, 25-19. 

The third set followed the script of the first two as the Chargers jumped out to a big lead, this time a 15-6 advantage, and fended off a late effort from the Highlanders to clinch the match with a 25-19 victory.

By the Numbers: Lancaster Bible had 35 kills and a .165 hitting percentage, while the Highlanders had 23 kills and a -.011 hitting percentage...The Chargers led in digs, 35-32, while each team had three aces...Kreider led the Chargers with 14 kills on 16 attempts with no errors...His .875 hitting percentage set a new program-record (min. 15 attempts) and he also added two blocks and an ace...Woelkers, Gentry and senior Derek Bigley each had four kills...Woelkers added three blocks and Ansell had 23 assists and five digs...Freshman Richard Solano had a team-high 13 digs...Andy Willits led the Highlanders with 11 kills.

Information Hodge Podge: Lancaster Bible is now 2-22 all-time against Cairn with both victories coming this season...The previous record of 16 wins was set by the 2013 squad that went 16-16 and won the NEAC Regular Season title before falling in the NEAC Final to Keuka, 3-1...Kreider's 14 kills are also a career-high and he now has double digit kills in his past four matches...Kreider's .875 hitting percentage is the best mark in NCAA Division III this season for that amount of attempts (15-19).

Up Next: Lancaster Bible returns to North Eastern Athletic Conference play next weekend (Mar. 18-19) when the Chargers face SUNY Polytechnic, Keuka and Wells...Those matches will be played at Penn St. Altoona in Altoona, Pa.