Men's Volleyball Opens Season with Tri-Match Split
The Lancaster Bible College Men's Volleyball team played their first matches of the 2024 season on Saturday afternoon, hosting both Eastern and #4 ranked Southern Virginia. The Chargers took down the Eagles 3-1 and lost to the Knights 3-0, starting the season 1-1 overall. Eastern begins 0-2 while the nationally-ranked Knights get off to a 2-0 start.
vs Eastern – W, 3-1 (25-21, 23-25, 29-27, 25-21)
How it Happened:
The Chargers got off to a 6-3 start thanks to kills from
Hunter Davis and freshman
Jordan Yoder.
Christian Herr landed back-to-back service aces later and Yoder kept the pressure, but Eastern kept pace and played a competitive first set. Junior
DJ Omogrosso had four kills in the first set, helping lead LBC to a 25-21 win.
The teams went back and forth in the second set, featuring 10 ties and four lead changes.
Jake Rotelle had three kills in the middle of the set to keep pace with Eastern, but a 4-1 run from the Eagles late help keep them ahead. Late kills from Yoder and Rotelle were not enough as Eastern stole set two 25-23 from LBC.
Eastern jumped to a 3-0 lead, but LBC powered right back to tie it with kills from Rotelle and
Dawson Forney. Lancaster Bible never led by more than one in the set as they played a point-for-point set. Down by as many as four, The Chargers went on a 7-1 run powered by Omogrosso, Forney and Yoder to help lead to extra points, where LBC completed the comeback to take a 2-1 set lead 29-27. The fourth set, while close for most of it, was smooth sailing for the Chargers as Yoder and Rotelle powered the drive to a 3-1 win over Eastern and an opening-day victory.
By the Numbers:
- The Chargers finished with 10 service aces and had eight different players record kills
- Freshman
Jordan Yoder had a team-high 14 kills in his first game, adding three blocks and five digs
-
Dawson Forney and
Jake Rotelle reached double-figures with 11 and 10 kills respectively
-
Christian Herr dished 48 assists on the game and
Ben Latham recorded a game-high 15 digs
- The Eagles were led by Rodney Quarles who had 16 kills and five digs
Information to Know:
The Chargers are now 2-0 against Eastern and have won five consecutive season openers. Sophomore
Christian Herr tied his career-high with four service aces today fellow sophomore
Tyler Martin posted a career-high with 10 digs.
vs #4 Southern Virginia – L, 0-3 (15-25, 21-25, 21-25)
How it Happened:
Kills from
Jake Rotelle and
Hunter Davis kept it close early, but a 7-2 scoring run from the Knights put the visitors up 10-7. Rotelle and
DJ Omogrosso brought LBC back within one, but another big run from Southern Virginia put the set out of reach as they took set one 25-15.
It was point-for-point in the second set until the Chargers went on a five-point run rounded out by an Omogrosso kill to take a 9-4 lead. The Knights fought back, but LBC held a steady lead throughout the middle portion of the set with a solo block from Davis sparking a 5-1 run to put Lancaster Bible up 20-16. SVU then rattled off eight straight points to grab the lead, then finished off set two 25-21 to go up by two sets.
The third set was once again close, with aces from Rotelle and
Christian Herr helping LBC maintain a small lead. After staving off the Knights the whole set, fourth-ranked SVU closed with six in a row to put away the Chargers in sweeping fashion.
By the Numbers:
- The Chargers kept all Knights players from reaching double-digit kills and had four players with multiple kills
-
Jake Rotelle and
Jordan Yoder each had nine kills and 10 total points
-
DJ Omogrosso had a team-high three blocks
-
Christian Herr dished 22 assists and Yoder had eight digs
- The Knights were led by Christian Sheaffer with eight kills and four aces
Information to Know:
The Chargers are now 2-7 all-time versus Southern Virginia, with the Knights being ranked in the AVCA Coaches Poll all nine times. Freshman
Jordan Yoder leads the team with 23 kills after two games and sophomore
Tyler Martin leads the team with 17 digs.
Up Next:
The Chargers will remain in Lancaster next Saturday as they host another tri-match, taking on both Elizabethtown and Penn St. Altoona with the first match tipping off at 11:00 a.m.
