The Lancaster Bible College Women's Volleyball team traveled just a few miles on Highway 222 to the home of Penn St. Berks for a match with the United East Conference member and non-conference foe Montclair St. Red Hawks. The Chargers opened Saturday afternoon with a 3-1 win over the Lions and 3-0 loss to the Red Hawks to move to 13-7 overall and a perfect 4-0 in conference play.
at Penn St. Berks, 3-1 Win (25-13; 25-27; 25-20; 25-21)
How it Happened: The Chargers have had trouble with the Lions in the past, including a three-game losing streak beginning in 2019. Knowing the matchup history and the level of talent Penn St. Berks has, the Chargers knew they were in for a fight. While the Chargers started out hot, earning a first set win by the largest margin of the day, the Lions responded, winning a tough 27-25 second set. With only two choices, either back down or step up, the Chargers went on to win the next two sets by a small margin of nine total points to give them their fourth victory in conference.
By the Numbers: The Chargers had 46 kills to the Lions' 37… The Chargers tallied seven total aces and blocks for the game while the Lions had four and six respectively… the Chargers also had 41 assists and 75 digs…
Faith Hammond had a team-high 12 kills while
Chloe King and
Lea Sareyka added 10 and eight each…
Morgan Fenstermacher had a monster six blocks while
Madeline Reed dished out 31 assists and
Leah Helman had a game-high 25 digs… Jordan Thompson for the Lions had a game-high 13 kills.
vs. Montclair St., 3-0 Loss (22-25; 24-26; 23-25)
How It Happened: Coming off a hard-fought win, the Chargers were in for another challenge, but this time they were on the other side of things as the Chargers dropped all three sets by three or less points. Just the first matchup in program history between the two teams, the Chargers looked to get their first set win in the second set after rallying down 24-20, rattling off four points to tie the game at 24-24 thanks to two big kills from Hammond and
Jessica Fletcher as well as two big blocks. However, the Red Hawks would halt the run to take the second set win 26-24. The Chargers led in the third set 10-7, but the red-hot Red Hawks kept the pressure, taking the third set 25-23 to win the match.
By the Numbers: The Chargers were edged in kills 35-33… the Chargers had seven aces and nine blocks to the Red Hawks' nine aces and 11 blocks… King and Fentsermacher had seven kills each… Sareyka and Fletcher had two aces each… King added four blocks and Reed had 21 assists… Helman added another 17 digs… Skye Ramsey for the Red Hawks had a game-high 14 kills.
From the Coach: "Mentally tough day to battle through. It was great to get a conference win! We were challenged in our second match to continue to improve where we need to get better." –
Head Coach Julie Brubaker
Information to Know: Following the Penn St. Berks win, the Chargers are the first team to punch their ticket to the 2023 United East Conference playoffs. Senior
Chloe King moved into 7th all-time for the Chargers in kills, sitting at 680 after today's action. King is also 7th all-time in total attacks with 2,128 TAs. Junior libero
Leah Helman continued to climb the program ranks in digs today as she passed both Brittney Becker and Katie Coomber and now sits in 5th all-time with 1,106 career digs; this makes her the only active player for women's volleyball to be in the top-5 in program history for any statistical category.
Up Next: The Chargers hit the road for another non-conference match against the Elizabethtown Blue Jays on Wednesday, October 18 at 7:00 p.m.
