The Lancaster Bible College Men's Volleyball team hosted the 2024 United East Championship match on Saturday afternoon, taking down Cairn 3-0 to win their second straight conference championship and first-ever United East title. The Chargers are 15-13 overall and riding a 10-game win streak into the NCAA Division III National Tournament, clinching an automatic berth for next week. The Highlanders end their season as conference runner-up at 7-14 overall.
 
How it Happened: The Chargers jumped to an early 6-2 lead behind three kills from Jordan Yoder with the Highlanders keeping pace. A kill from Dawson Forney and two service aces from Christian Herr boosted the lead to 15-6, then after a few Cairn points Hunter Davis hit his 500^th career kill to make it a 16-8 set lead. A late three-point run with two Forney kills helped LBC pull away, then another Davis kill gave them a 25-18 set victory.
 
The second set was all Lancaster Bible as two kills from Herr highlighted a five-point run to make it 10-4 Chargers. The points kept coming for the Chargers as they rattled off seven straight points with two blocks from Davis making the lead 13 points. Jake Rotelle closed out the set with back-to-back kills to end the set 25-9 and put LBC within one set of clinching the title.
 
Like the first two sets, the Chargers started out hot with kills from Rotelle and Kevin Bryant making it 7-2 early. The Highlanders traded points with the Chargers in the middle of the set to stay close, pulling within two to three points several times. Cairn connected on four straight points to take their first lead since 1-0 in the first set 18-17, then again 21-19 to make LBC come from behind. The Chargers did just that, winning six of the next seven points to finish off the Highlanders 25-22 and claim their second straight conference championship.
 
By the Numbers:
- The Chargers had 38 kills on 38.5% hitting, nine aces, and five blocks, while the Highlanders had 21 kills on 2.5% hitting, two aces, and five blocks
- Dawson Forney led all players with 10 kills, adding one block
- Jordan Yoder and Jake Rotelle each added eight kills and four digs
- Christian Herr dished 26 assists and landed a game-high five aces, adding five digs and two blocks as well
- Ben Latham had a game-high 12 digs and added three assists
- The Highlanders were led by Sam Poirier with a team-high seven kills
 
Information to Know:
This is the Chargers' second consecutive conference championship and their third in program history. Setter Christian Herr (So.) was named United East Men's Volleyball Tournament Most Valuable Player, amassing 55 assists, five kills, nine digs, and an astounding 11 service aces through two tournament games. This is Herr's second Tournament MVP Award as he also won last year's CSAC Tournament MVP. The Chargers are advancing to their third NCAA Tournament in program history, appearing previously in 2018 and 2021. Hunter Davis landed his 500^th career kill in the first set, becoming just the 11^th player in program history to reach the 500-kill mark. For the United East, Dawson Forney (Jr.) sits second in the conference with 216 kills and Jordan Yoder (Fr.) is in third with 188 kills. Christian Herr leads the conference in assists with 812 and assists per set at 8.84 and is also sixth in service aces with 34. Hunter Davis (Gr.) sits at third in blocks per set (0.61) and DJ Omogrosso (Jr.) ranks sixth (0.54). Ben Latham (So.) is second in the United East with 269 digs and 2.96 digs/set.
 
Up Next: The Chargers await their next opponent in the NCAA Division III National Tournament, with the selections being made on Monday, April 15 at 10:00 a.m. and the game to be played on Friday, April 19 at a time to be determined.