The Lancaster Bible College Women's Volleyball team looked to carry its momentum from Friday night into Saturday's tri-match, but ultimately fell to Alfred St. and Maine – Fort Kent, both in five sets. The Chargers move to 1-2 to start the year while Alfred St. improves to 2-1 and Maine – Fort Kent remains unbeaten at 3-0 overall.
2-3 Loss vs. Alfred St. | 25-22, 21-25, 27-25, 19-25, 11-15
How It Happened: The first set seemed familiar for the Chargers as they raced to an early 6-2 lead, but Alfred St. fought back to take the lead 14-11. Facing a deficit for the first time on Saturday, the Chargers clawed back to take a 19-15 lead behind a block from sophomore
Morgan Fenstermacher. Back-to-back kills from
Tessa Kwiatkowski and
Chloe King sealed the first set to give the Chargers a 1-0 lead.
The second set happened to be much different as Alfred St. never gave up the lead to win 25-21 and tie the game 1-1, but the Chargers responded gutting their way to a tough 27-25 win . Despite the 2-1 advantage, the Chargers couldn't hold on as Alfred St. went on to win the next two sets and the entire match.
By the Numbers: The Chargers were in close contention across the board statistics wise… Alfred St. had the edge in kills and aces but the Chargers racked up five big blocks and 67 total digs….
Jessica Fletcher led the Chargers with 11 blocks while
Faith Hammond and Fenstermacher added nine a piece…
Leah Helman racked up a career-high eight service aces as well as 20 total digs, while Kwiatkowski finished with 30 assists… Racquel Gersternberger had a game-high 18 kills for Alfred St.
2-3 Loss vs. Maine – Fort Kent | 25-20, 16-25, 21-25, 25-23, 12-15
How It Happened: Again, the Chargers raced out to a 10-4 lead to start the second match of the day, but the Bengals clawed back to bring it within 19-17. It wasn't enough though as Fenstermacher ended the first set win with yet another kill for the weekend. The Bengals returned the favor though winning the next two sets to give them a 2-1 advantage.
Sensing pressure, the Chargers stepped up big in the fourth set getting kills from six different players in
Riley Dodrer,
Sheyenne King,
Chloe King, Fenstermacher, Hammond, and Fletcher. The fourth set win was capped off by triple Chargers kills, two from
Chloe King and the 25
th point from
Faith Hammond.
The Bengals and Chargers stayed neck and neck through the fifth set as the Chargers even took the lead 12-11 late in the set. The Bengals however responded with four straight points to earn the fifth set win and match win.
By the Numbers: The Chargers were edged in kills 51-48 and aces 14-8 while racking up 7 total blocks for the game… the Chargers edged out the Bengals in digs 82-80…
Chloe King tallied 16 kills while Fletcher had 12 and Hammond six… Fenstermacher racked up six blocks and Kwiatkoski dished 21 assists… Helman finished with 26 digs on the game… de Vet finished with a game high 17 kills for the Bengals.
From the Coach… Head Coach
Julie Brubaker was quick to look past the unfortunate results and point more towards the fight that her team showed throughout the weekend. Being impressed with how the team has started to compete, there is great potential for what is to come in the 2023 season.
Information to Know: This was the first ever meeting between Maine - Fort Kent and Lancaster Bible. This was also the first time since October 2019 that the Chargers have played back-to-back five-set matches on the same day. Senior
Chloe King surpassed 500 career kills today against UMFK, putting her at 512 total kills after today's matches. King also reached 600 total points on her career with 8.5 in today's contest against ASU. In addition, junior
Leah Helman had 46 total digs between the two matches today, helping her reach 800 career digs as she currently has 806.
Up Next: The Chargers stay on the road, traveling to Alvernia on Tuesday, September 5 for a game at 7:00 p.m.
