The Lancaster Bible College men's volleyball team split its final tri-match of the season on Saturday as the Chargers dropped the opener to Penn St. Altoona, 3-0, before rebounding to defeat Wilson, 3-1 at Horst Athletic Center.
 
The split ends the regular season for the Chargers at 25-8, 12-4 NEAC. Lancaster Bible qualified for the North Eastern Athletic Conference playoffs last weekend and will await the final matches of the regular season to see who their NEAC Semifinal opponent is.
 
Penn St. Altoona 3, Lancaster Bible 0
29-27, 25-16, 25-18
 
How it Happened: The first set was one of the more exciting sets of the season for the Chargers as they battled the Nittany Lions point-for-point. After the Chargers led in the early going, the Nittany Lions won seven of nine points midway through the set to grab a 15-13 lead. Lancaster Bible responded and tied the match at 19-19 after a block from Daniel Kreider and Derek Bigley.
 
Penn St. Altoona eventually took a 24-22 lead, but a kill from Kasey Gentry and a block from Bigley knotted the match at 24-24. Lancaster Bible took 25-24 and 26-25 leads, but couldn't steal the first set as Penn St. Altoona hung tough. After the Chargers fought off a set-point, they gifted Altoona two points on errors as the Nittany Lions came away with the 29-27 victory.
 
Penn St. Altoona rode its first-set momentum into the second as the Nittany Lions took a 13-6 lead midway through the set. Lancaster Bible won five of six points to cut its deficit to 14-11, but the Chargers wouldn't get any closer as the Nittany Lions won eight of the next 10 points to take a 22-13 lead, before winning the second set, 25-16.
 
Trailing two sets to none, Lancaster Bible took an early 8-5 lead in the third set, but Penn St. Altoona kept chipping away and Lancaster Bible couldn't get enough kills to stay in front as the Nittany Lions eventually took an 18-13 advantage. The Nittany Lions would win the set, 25-18 as Bradley Colditz put home a kill to end the match.
 
By the Numbers: Penn St. Altoona led in kills, 40-29 and digs, 32-20…The Chargers had seven blocks, while the Nittany Lions had four…Gentry had a team-high 11 kills and added a block…Kole Horst had eight kills and five digs…Bigley had seven kills, two blocks and an ace…Kaleb Ansell had 24 assist and three blocks.
 
Information Hodge Podge: Lancaster Bible is now 3-11 all-time against Penn St. Altoona…The Nittany Lions officially clinched the top spot in the NEAC Playoffs and will host the NEAC Final Four on April 14-15.
 
Lancaster Bible 3, Wilson 1
25-17, 25-20, 22-25, 25-20
 
How it Happened: Lancaster Bible won the first two sets with relative ease as they built comfortable leads midway through each set and took a 2-0 lead.
 
Wilson responded in the third set however and took a 16-9 lead after back-to-back kills from Nick Baxter. The Chargers cut their deficit to 18-17 after a kill from Kreider, but Wilson wouldn't be denied and won the third set, 25-22.
 
In the fourth set, Lancaster Bible never trailed, though Wilson played well again, and the Chargers ended the match on a kill from Gentry.
 
By the Numbers: Lancaster Bible had 53 kills, while Wilson had 44…The Charges hit at 25.4% and had 62 digs to Wilson's 45…Derek Bigley led three players with double digit kills as he had 15 kills, 16 digs and three aces…Gentry had 13 kills, 12 digs and three blocks, while Kreider had 12 kills and two blocks…Ansell finished with 47 assists and nine digs, while fellow freshman Richard Solano had nine digs…Horst added seven kills and six digs.
 
Information Hodge Podge: Lancaster Bible is 5-0 all-time against Wilson, including a 2-0 mark against the Phoenix this season…The match marked the fourth time this season the Chargers have had 50 or more kills in a match…Ansell's 47 assists are a career-high…Lancaster Bible finished the regular season with a 10-3 mark at Horst Athletic Center…The 12 NEAC wins are the most in program history.
 
Up Next: Lancaster Bible awaits their opponent in the NEAC Semifinals which will take place in Altoona, Pa. and be held on Friday, April 14.