The Lancaster Bible College men's volleyball team wrapped up the 2023 NCCAA Invitational with a third-place finish following a semifinal loss to Trinity Christian and then beating Geneva (Pa.) in four sets. The Chargers move to 4-3 overall.
 
Chargers Taken Down by Trolls | [25-19; 27-29; 19-25; 21-25]
 
Coming off a 1-1 split in yesterday's two games of pool play, the Chargers came out of the gate firing with three kills in a row from Dawson Forney and two from Elijah Herb. Herb added two more of his nine first set kills early on to make it a 5-1 ball game. The Chargers continued to pour on the offensive attack with additional kills from Forney, Hunter Davis, and Christian Herr. A kill from Forney put the Chargers up to 21-12 and then back-to-back kills from freshman Ben Latham and Herb gave the Chargers a 25-19 first set win.
 
Herb, hot off his nine kills in the first set, opened the second set with another kill, giving the Chargers an early 1-0 lead and what would be the only Charger lead until late in the second set. The Trolls started to roll offensively thanks to a few blocks and Charger errors. The Chargers were down by as much as six points, 9-15, before starting to claw their way back in eventually tying the game at 25 all off a Herb kill and taking the lead 26-25 off a Herb block. The Trolls regained the lead to only have it tied again at 27-27 off another Herb kill. The Trolls responded, putting down two kills of their own and winning the second set 29-27.
 
The Trolls used the momentum from the second set to carry them through the next two sets and walk away with a win in four sets. The Chargers managed to keep the deficit within two points for nearly the whole third set until a 6-2 run from the Trolls helped them close out their second win over the Chargers. The fourth set was a battle of attacks as both teams were tied from six to ten points. The Chargers took an 18-16 lead late in the fourth set thanks to two blocks, one from Forney and Davis and one from Herb. The Trolls battled back to tie the game three more times before rattling off four final points helping the Trolls secure the fourth set 25-21 and giving them the victory.
 
By the Numbers: The Chargers had 62 kills on 58 assists while registering 33 digs… the Trolls had 55 kills on 55 assists and tallied 27 digs… Elijah Herb had a monster game with 28 kills and two blocks… Forney had 15 kills and 11 digs and Davis had 11 kills… Christian Herr had 50 of the 55 assists… Alex Costa had 22 kills for the Trolls.

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Chargers Topple Golden Tornadoes | 3-1 [25-15; 25-17; 23-25; 25-19]
 
Following a tough loss to the Trolls just a few hours earlier, the Chargers found themselves down early and having to fight back. The Chargers were down by as much as four points in the first set until a 14-2 run fueled by kills from Herb, Forney, Davis, and Jake Rotelle helped the Chargers rush to a convincing 25-15 win.
 
The Chargers again found themselves down 7-9 early in the second set, but they used a 5-0 run capped by a Latham kill to retake the lead 12-9. The teams began to trade points, but the Chargers' attack proved to be too much and the Chargers raced to a 25-17 win off another Latham kill and a block from Herr and senior Kevin Koch.
 
In the fourth set, the Chargers were the ones up early with a 4-0 lead. But the Golden Tornadoes flipped the script and battled back to earn their first set victory 25-23. With a 2-1 advantage, the Chargers needed to make a stand and they did just that. The Chargers were able to rattle off four to five points at a time, giving them an early 16-9 lead. The Golden Tornadoes looked to battle back but back-to-back kills from Forney, a Koch kill, and Herr kill ended the set and match 25-19.
 
By the Numbers: The Chargers had 51 kills on 46 assists while registering six aces and eight blocks… Geneva had 29 kills with eight blocks and 27 assists… Davis notched a game-high 13 kills with five blocks… Forney had 12 kills and Koch had eight kills and three blocks… Herr dished out 38 assists and had four blocks… Latham had 16 digs and Rotelle had four aces… Emerson Spear had 11 kills for the Golden Tornadoes.
 
Up Next: The Chargers return to the Horst Athletic Center on Wednesday, February 1^st against Stevenson and then face-off with Randolph-Macon on Saturday, February 11^th.