For the first time since the 2013 season, the Lancaster Bible College men's volleyball team will host the North Eastern Athletic Conference Final Four this weekend, as the Chargers welcome Penn St. Altoona, Wells and SUNY Poly to Horst Athletic Center. The Chargers captured the top spot in the NEAC this season, going a perfect 8-0 in conference play. Lancaster Bible will host Penn St. Altoona in Saturday's first semifinal, while second-seeded Wells will battle third-seeded SUNY Poly in the other semifinal.
 
Team Records:
Penn St. Altoona: 16-12, 5-3 NEAC
Lancaster Bible: 21-4, 8-0 NEAC
 
How They Got Here:
Penn St. Altoona: After finishing fourth in the NEAC during the regular season, the Nittany Lions defeated Medaille, 3-1 in Tuesday night's NEAC Quarterfinals, to reach the semifinals…Penn St. Altoona won the NEAC a season ago, becoming the first conference team to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III National Tournament…The Nittany Lions have won eight of their last 10 contests entering the NEAC Semifinals.
 
Lancaster Bible: The Chargers cruised through the NEAC this season, losing just one set in eight conference matches (24-1)…Lancaster Bible enters the NEAC Semifinals having won 11 straight matches, and the Chargers four losses have all come against teams ranked sixth or better in the latest AVCA Top 15 Poll.
 
Regular Season Matchup:
Feb. 18, 2018 (at Penn St. Altoona -- LBC, W, 3-0): Lancaster Bible came out swinging against the reigning NEAC champions, and defeated the Nittany Lions, 25-20, 25-21, 25-19 in Altoona, Pa….The Chargers posted 38 kills and a 22.8 hitting percentage, and also smashed seven aces…Junior Nate Miller had a team-high 20 kills, and also added three aces and four blocks…Sophomore Kole Horst added eight kills, while fellow sophomore Kaleb Ansell posted 34 assists…Junior Kurt Maysilles had a team-high 10 digs, and senior Kasey Gentry had five kills, seven digs and a block…Dan Downs led the Nittany Lions with eight kills, while Brian Sheddy had a team-best 12 digs.
 
Information Hodge Podge:
Penn St. Altoona: The Nittany Lions are led by Dan Downs and his 238 kills this season…Downs has also posted a team-best 81 blocks…Brandon Arentz leads the Nittany Lions with 287 digs this season, while Tommy Kisick paces the team with 840 assists…Penn St. Altoona went 5-3 in NEAC play this season, but was 0-3 against teams in this weekend's NEAC Final Four…The Nittany Lions were 9-7 away from home this season, but are the aforementioned NEAC champions from a season ago…Penn St. Altoona leads the NEAC with 12.06 digs per set, with Arentz pacing the conference with his 283 digs.
 
Lancaster Bible: The Chargers have been one of the top teams in the NEAC all season long, led by Nate Miller, who was named NEAC Player of the Year earlier this week and Head Coach Jade Brubaker, who was named NEAC Coach of the Year…Miller leads the NEAC and NCAA Division III with 5.40 kills per set, and 405 total kills…Junior Daniel Kreider leads the conference with a 43.3 hitting percentage, while sophomore Kaleb Ansell is second in the conference with 9.83 assists per set…The Chargers lead the conference in hitting percentage at 26.3, and also pace the NEAC with 1.90 aces per set…Lancaster Bible is 10-1 at Horst Athletic Center this season, with the lone loss coming in the opening match of the season to sixth-ranked New Paltz…Lancaster Bible lost in the NEAC Semifinals to Wells, 3-2 last season, and has appeared in the NEAC Final twice in program history, though not since 2014.
 
How to Watch: Both of Saturday's NEAC Semifinals will be available on the Chargers Sports Network - CHARGERS SPORTS NETWORK ... The Chargers will host Penn St. Altoona at 12 p.m., followed by Wells taking on SUNY Poly at 2:30 p.m.