The Lancaster Bible College men's volleyball team earned its first victory of the 2018 season on Wednesday night, defeating Wilkes, 3-1 at Horst Athletic Center. A night after losing, 3-0 to the third ranked team in the country, New Paltz, the Chargers defeated the Colonels, 25-9, 15-25, 25-22, 25-19 to improve to 1-1.

1st Set Highlights: Leading 5-4 early in the set, Lancaster Bible rattled off 11 of 13 points to take a 16-6 lead midway through the opening set. Junior Nate Miller, senior Kasey Gentry and sophomore Kole Horst had kills during the run, while sophomore Kaleb Ansell added an ace. The Chargers didn't let up, and back-to-back kills from junior Daniel Kreider and Miller gave the Chargers a 25-9 first set victory.

2nd Set Highlights: There were few highlights for the Chargers in the second set, as Wilkes led almost the entire set. Lancaster Bible cut its deficit to one on several occasions, but the Colonels opened up a 16-10 lead midway through the set after taking six of seven points. Lancaster Bible closed the gap to 21-15 on a kill from Kyran Flahive and a Colonels' error, but Wilkes won the final four points of the set to tie the match, 1-1.

3rd Set Highlights: The Chargers led 6-3 early in the set, but Wilkes won five straight points to take an 8-6 lead on a kill from Brian Schumacher. Lancaster Bible responded with seven of the next nine points and led 13-10 after another kill from Kreider. Wilkes kept the set close and cut the Chargers' lead to one on four different occasions, but Lancaster Bible hung tough, and late kills from Miller and Kreider helped the Chargers win the set, 25-22.

4th Set Highlights: Wilkes grabbed an early lead in the fourth set and led 12-10, before the Chargers strung together five straight points to take a 15-12 lead. Three errors from Wilkes and a kill and ace from senior Derek Bigley helped the Chargers to the three-point lead, but Wilkes then won the next five points for a 17-15 lead. A set that saw several scoring runs and five lead changes, swung again, as the Chargers won four straight points for a 19-17 advantage. Miller had two kills during the four point run, though Wilkes tied it 19-19 two points later. A night after falling short in some big moments, the Chargers dug down and won the final six points of the set, using errors by Wilkes and kills from Gentry and Miller to put the set and match away, 25-19.

By the Numbers: Lancaster Bible had 47 kills and 16 errors on 89 attempts (.348 hitting percentage)...Wilkes had 33 kills and 24 errors on 91 attempts (.099 hitting percentage)...Miller had 21 kills for the second straight match, and also added three aces, four digs and two blocks...Gentry finished with seven kills and four blocks, while Kreider had five kills and two blocks...Horst had five kills and five digs, while Bigley had six kills and three digs...Ansell finished with 37 assists and an ace and Colin McCabe added a kill as well in his first action this season...Daniel Sales and Jones Mensah each had eight kills for Wilkes.

Information Hodge Podge: The Chargers are now 4-0 all-time against Wilkes...This is the second season the Colonels have had men's volleyball, as the Chargers defeated Wilkes three times last season...Lancaster Bible had 14 kills and zero errors in the first set...Through two matches this season, the Chargers have scored 152 points and given up 152 points...Through two matches, Lancaster Bible is averaging 10.71 kills per set.

Up Next: Lancaster Bible travels to Springfield, Ohio this weekend to take part in the Jim Coleman Invitational on the campus of Wittenberg University...The Chargers take on Cincinnati Christian (2 p.m.) and Lakeland (8 p.m.) on Friday, and will face Southern Virginia on Saturday at 3 p.m.