The 2017 Lancaster Bible College women's volleyball team is a mixture of newcomers and returners from a team that advanced to the North Eastern Athletic Conference playoffs for the sixth straight season last year. The mixture is not only evident on the court, but on the sideline as well, as first-year Head Coach Jacki Smith takes over for Lauren Bewley who stepped down after 11 seasons. Smith, armed with two returning assistant coaches and a newcomer, will look to lead a team that has potential to do great things in 2017.

Back for More
-Lancaster Bible welcomes back 10 returners from a team that went 15-20 overall and 8-5 in NEAC play a year ago
-Sophomore Allison Shuey returns after earning a NEAC All-Conference Third Team selection a year ago...Shuey posted 891 assists in 2016 and her 7.49 assists per set were sixth-best in the NEAC
-Senior Myranda Kemrer is back for her final season with the Chargers as she led Lancaster Bible with 429 digs a year ago and finished seventh in the NEAC with 3.86 digs per set...Kemrer enters 2017 needing exactly 500 digs to pass Lauren Heliger for the most in program history...Friday's season-opener will be the 100th match of Kemrer's collegiate career
-Sophomore Ashtyn Bouslog returns as well and will look to build upon her impressive freshman season that saw her finish second on the team with 215 kills...Bouslog led the Chargers in aces a year ago with 48 and also chipped in with 269 digs
-Lauren Grimm, Mandy Metzler, Hannah Gipe, Erin Harkey, Martina McCauley, Jenny Lenko and Hannah Thompson also return for Lancaster Bible and each will look to add to a Chargers team that is full of depth...Grimm and Harkey join Kemrer as this year's captains...Gipe finished fourth on the 2016 squad with 161 kills, while Thompson was one of seven Lancaster Bible players with 145 kills or more

Come Aboard
-The Chargers welcome four new players to the team this season, including Suzanna Whiting, Aleah Heyworth, Bekah Roberts and Bekah Baxter
-All four players will contribute and add to the depth of the Chargers

Leader of the Pack
-Head Coach Jacki Smith, a very good player during her playing days at Northwestern (Minn.), has already put her prints on the program as the Chargers have worked hard all preseason long...You can hear more from Coach Smith below in her preseason interview

Season Notes
-Lancaster Bible was selected seventh in the NEAC Preseason Poll
-Lancaster Bible has won 14 or more matches every season since 2012 and will look to extend the streak to six seasons this year
-The Chargers have qualified for the NEAC Playoffs in each of the six seasons Lancaster Bible has been a part of the conference
-NEAC play opens early this season as Lancaster Bible will face Bryn Athyn, Penn St. Berks and St. Elizabeth during the second full week of September
-The first two weeks of the season are daunting for the Chargers who not only have the aforementioned three conference matches, but also non-conference matches with Messiah, Franklin & Marshall, Elizabethtown and St. Mary's (Md.)
-Lancaster Bible will play 12 home matches this season, four of which are NEAC matches
-Due to a change in the way the NEAC does its scheduling, there are no more NEAC Weekends as in years past, but Lancaster Bible will play host to four conference matches on Oct. 14...The Chargers will host Keuka and Wells that day and those teams will also play Penn St. Berks at Horst Athletic Center
-Lancaster Bible's full 2017 schedule can be found here
-Prior to the 2017 season opener against Messiah, the Chargers will celebrate the life of former student-athlete and team-member Alyssa Bowen...Bowen was tragically killed in December and Friday marks the first time the team will take the court since her passing...Both Messiah and Lancaster Bible will wear t-shirts honoring Alyssa and there will be pre-game ceremonies featuring Coach Smith and former Head Coach Lauren Bewley...T-shirts will be sold in the lobby of Horst Athletic Center for $15 and proceeds will benefit the scholarship fund set up in Bowen's name at her high school.

Watch the 2017 Season Preview Interview with Head Coach Jacki Smith