The Lancaster Bible College Women's Volleyball team hosted their United East Semifinal on Tuesday night in front of a packed Horst Athletic Center, earning a 3-0 sweep of St. Mary's (Md.) to advance to Saturday's championship game. The Chargers improve to 25-6 overall while the Seahawks end their season 18-11 overall and a conference semifinalist.

How it Happened:
After the Seahawks went up 2-0 to start, the Chargers took a 6-4 lead in set one after a dump kill from sophomore Madeline Reed. The set remained close in the middle before the Chargers scored five points in a row behind two kills from sophomore Lea Sareyka and an ace from freshman Madison Reap. Lancaster Bible held on to take the first set 25-17.

The Chargers raced to an 8-1 lead in set two as sophomore Eden Belford knocked two kills and senior Leah Helman landed an ace. The Seahawks would not go away easily, crawling back into the match little by little as LBC maintained a slight lead. That was until St. Mary's (Md.) made a late push with five straight points to take the lead 24-23 and force extra points in the set. The Chargers responded off a service error and kills from Sareyka, landing a kill at the back of the court to send the crowd into a frenzy as the Chargers won the set 26-24.

The third set was tightly contested throughout with seven total ties and five lead changes, the Seahawks with their backs against the wall down 2-0. The Seahawks finished off a seven-point burst with a kill for their largest lead of the night, leading 14-9 and forcing an LBC timeout. The Chargers regrouped and later took the lead back 20-17, then led 22-18 after a Seahawks error. On match point, Sareyka landed the final blow with an ace to win the set 25-21 and send the Chargers to the conference title game for the first time since 2018.

By the Numbers:
- The Chargers led in kills 31-23 and just edged out the Seahawks 9-8 in aces, while St. Mary's (Md.) had eight blocks to the Chargers' four
- Lea Sareyka had a game-high 12 kills for the Chargers
- Madeline Reed had 13 assists and 12 digs
- Madison Reap finished with eight kills, 13 digs, and a game-high three aces
- Leah Helman anchored the defense with 18 digs
- The Seahawks were led by Julia Bobrowski with six kills and a team-high 16 digs

From the Coach:
"Wow … The team played their best when their best was needed. They were steady and composed through some challenging moments. I was proud of their wholehearted effort! It was a great team win! Looking forward to Saturday's championship match!" ~ Head Coach Julie Brubaker

Information to Know:
The Chargers improve to 5-2 all-time against St. Mary's (Md.) and this was their first-ever postseason meeting. Lancaster Bible has won multiple conference playoff games in a season for the first time in program history and have advanced to the championship game for just the second time ever (2018). The Chargers add to their historic win total with 25 victories so far, the first 25-win season by any LBC program since Men's Volleyball finished 26-5 in 2019. Senior libero Leah Helman reached exactly 600 digs this season after tonight's match, becoming just the second player in program history to record a 600-dig season {Lauren Heliger, 2018 (618)}. 

Up Next:
The Chargers will travel to play one-seed Gallaudet for the United East Championship on Saturday, November 16 at 5:00 p.m.