The top-seeded Lancaster Bible College Men's Volleyball team hosted their United East Semifinal match against 4-seed Neumann, sweeping the match 3-0 and advancing to the United East Championship game on Saturday afternoon. The Chargers improve to 22-7 overall while the Knights finish 14-12 overall.

How it Happened:
The Chargers led 7-3 early in the first set after sophomore Zeke Clark landed a service ace, keeping the lead at four when senior Dawson Forney landed an ace of his own. Sophomore Jordan Yoder had four kills in the middle of the set, plus two service aces to finish a five-point Charger run to take the lead 19-10. The Knights battled to close the gap, but a kill by sophomore Jaiden Flanagan finished off set one 25-18 for LBC.

The Chargers fell behind early as Neumann raced to a 4-1 lead, then the Chargers fought back to tie the set at 8-8 after a kill by Flanagan. The teams traded points back and forth before Lancaster Bible pulled ahead 15-13 on a kill and an ace by Forney. After some more battling back and forth, the Chargers ended the set by winning four of the final five points, including kills by sophomore Carson Hoover and a block by Flanagan, ending on a kill from Yoder to take set two 25-21.

The Chargers got out to a 5-2 lead in the third set with a four-point run, but the Knights responded by tying the set at five. A quick four-point response by the Chargers fueled by Knight errors forced a timeout, then back-to-back kills by Hoover kept the lead at four points at 12-8. It was a battle throughout the middle of the set, but LBC gained an edge with a 5-1 scoring run to increase the lead to seven. On the second match point, the fans stood in the Horst Athletic Center as Forney nailed the final kill on Neumann 25-19 to put the Chargers in the conference title match come Saturday.

By the Numbers:
- The Chargers led in kills 39-24 and landed nine service aces while the Knights had none, and the Knights had more blocks 6-4
- Carson Hoover led the Chargers with 12 kills and a career-high 12 digs
- Sophomore Kevin Bryant added nine kills and two blocks
- Jordan Yoder landed eight kills and three service aces
- Tyler Martin dished 32 assists and Nicholas Marion finished with 10 digs
- The Knights were led by Trey Edmonds with a team-high nine kills and four digs

Information to Know:
The Chargers advance to their third consecutive conference championship game and earned their fifth straight playoff sweep over tournament foes. Kevin Bryant recorded his 100th career block tonight against the Knights with 23 solo and 77 assisted blocks in just two seasons.

Up Next:
The Chargers will host the United East Championship match on Saturday, April 12 as they take on 2-seed Wilson for the conference title and an automatic qualification to the NCAA Tournament at 2:00 p.m.