The Lancaster Bible College women's volleyball team played 10 sets over two matches on Saturday, but it was well worth it, as the Chargers fought back from a pair of 2-1 deficits to claim 3-2 five-set victories over both Immaculata and Penn St. Berks. The win over the Nittany Lions was also a North Eastern Athletic Conference match, so the pair of victories sends the Chargers to 8-8 overall this season, and 3-0 in conference play.
 
Lancaster Bible 3, Immaculata 2
19-25, 25-23, 15-25, 25-20, 15-13
 
How it Happened: After dropping the first set, Lancaster Bible raced out to an 11-5 lead in set two, as Allison Shuey capped the run with an ace. The Mighty Macs fought back and cut the deficit to 14-12, but Lancaster Bible won four of five points, and led 18-13 after a block assist from Courtney Goyak and Aleah Heyworth. Immaculata tied the set at 22-22 after a Lancaster Bible error, but again, the Chargers hung tough, and after back-to-back kills from Goyak gave Lancaster Bible a set point, they won it a point later on an error by the Mighty Macs.
 
The third set went poorly for the Chargers, and they trailed, 7-4 early in the fourth set, but rattled off eight straight points for a 12-7 advantage, as Cassidy King had three aces during the run. The Chargers never trailed again in the fourth set, and Shuey's ace later in set sealed the fourth for Lancaster Bible, and the teams headed to a fifth set.
 
In the final set, Immaculata held leads of 7-4 and 9-6, but Lancaster Bible wouldn't go away, and tied the set at 9-9 after a kill from Heyworth, and an ace from Rebekah Stone. The Mighty Macs took the next three points for a 12-9 lead, but a kill from Shuey, followed by two straight aces from Shuey, tied the set at 12-12. Heyworth gave Lancaster Bible a 13-12 lead with a kill, and a block assist by Bekah Roberts and Kate Smoker gave the Chargers match point. After a kill from Immaculata cut the Chargers' lead to one, Smoker ended the match with a kill, and the Chargers had their first five-set win of the season.
 
Statistically Speaking: Lancaster Bible had 42 kills and 29 errors on 139 attempts for a .094 hitting percentage…Immaculata had 42 kills and 21 errors on 121 attempts for a .174 hitting percentage…The Chargers led, 15-13 in aces, and 9-5 in blocks…Heyworth had 10 kills, five digs and four blocks, while Cassidy King had eight kills and 12 digs to go with three aces…Shuey had two kills, 25 assists and five aces…Goyak had seven kills and five blocks…Chloe King had four kills, and Faith Helman had nine assists.
 
News & Notes: Lancaster Bible is now 3-3 all-time against Immaculata…The 15 aces for Lancaster Bible are a season best.
 
Lancaster Bible 3, Penn St. Berks 2
16-25, 26-24, 17-25, 25-16, 15-8
 
How it Happened: After another rough first set, the Chargers trailed, 8-4 early in the second set, and eventually fell behind, 15-9.  Like the opening match though, the Chargers battled, and trailing, 20-16, Lancaster Bible won three straight points, as Cassidy King and Heyworth had kills, followed by a solo block by King, to make it 20-19. After a Penn St. Berks point, the Chargers tied the match on a kill from Goyak and a Nittany Lions error. Penn St. Berks had two set points at 24-22, but a kill from Goyak, followed by a block assist by Roberts and Shuey, tied the set at 24-24. Smoker's kill gave the Chargers set point, which they took on the next point thanks to a kill from Cassidy King.
 
Another third-set letdown was followed by a strong fourth frame, as the Chargers raced out to a 13-6 lead after two straight kills form Courtney Goyak. Lancaster Bible led, 20-11 later in the set, and kills from Goyak and Smoker clinched the set for the Chargers.
 
Lancaster Bible used the momentum from the fourth set to establish a 7-1 lead in the fifth set, as Roberts had a kill, followed by back-to-back errors by the Nittany Lions. Penn St. Berks cut it to 8-6 in the middle of the set, but the Chargers won the next four points, capped by a block assist from Heyworth and Roberts. The Chargers completed the comeback a few points later, as the Nittany Lions committed an error.
 
Statistically Speaking: Lancaster Bible had 52 kills and 31 errors on 163 attempts for a .129 hitting percentage, while Penn St. Berks had 47 kills and 25 errors on 148 attempts for a .149 hitting percentage…The Chargers also led in blocks, 6-5, while the Nittany Lions led in digs, 66-60, and aces, 10-7…Heyworth was one of three players with double-digit kills, as she had 12 kills, eight digs and three blocks…Goyak had 11 kills and two blocks, while Smoker had 10 kills and team-best 18 digs, to go with four aces…Cassidy King added nine kills and 14 digs, while Roberts had six kills and two blocks…Shuey finished with 42 assists and two blocks.
 
The Coach Says: "Nobody wins two five-setters in a row, but apparently we do," Lancaster Bible Head Coach Micah Herron said. "I'm so proud of the efforts of each player, and love the grit they showed at the end of each match. We executed in the sets we won, we just need to do that more frequently and not put ourselves in bad positions. We served tough at the end of both matches, and minimized our mistakes in both fifth sets, and just had more grittiness."
 
News & Notes: Lancaster Bible is now 9-15 all-time against the Nittany Lions…Lancaster Bible is 4-2 in true road matches this season…The Chargers are 2-1 in five-set matches this season, after going 2-2 in five-set matches a year ago…This is only the second time in program history the Chargers have played three straight five-set matches, as the other instance happened during the 2010 season.
 
Up Next: Lancaster Bible travels to Moravian on Tuesday night for a 7 p.m. match in Bethlehem, Pa.