The Lancaster Bible College Women's Volleyball team traveled to face Messiah on Wednesday night, losing 3-1 in a thrilling match with two sets of extra points. The Chargers fall to 2-4 overall while the Falcons improve to 5-3 overall.
 
How it Happened:
The Chargers took an early 4-1 lead after a series of Falcon errors, earning points on back-to-back service aces from junior Lea Sareyka followed by a kill by Sareyka as LBC led 10-6. Messiah powered back into the set to take a 12-11 lead, then the teams went back and forth for several points until two aces by senior Riley Dodrer put the Chargers up five points at 22-17. The Chargers closed out set one against Messiah on a kill by freshman Ashby Brummer, winning 25-19 and taking the early advantage.
 
The second set provided some high stakes as the teams battled back and forth the whole way through, with the Chargers grabbing another early lead after a Sareyka kill. Messiah quickly seized momentum with a seven-point burst, surging ahead and taking control of the set. Lancaster Bible rattled off four points in a row to tie the set including a service ace by junior Jessica Fletcher, but the Falcons regained a three-point lead late in the set. Fletcher tied the set up on match point to force extra points, and there were a lot of them as the teams traded blows and service errors to extend the set. In the end, the Falcons pulled away to win set two 31-29 and extend the match, tying it at 1-1.
 
Messiah led early in set three until a five-point run from the Chargers put them in front 9-7, sparked by three aces from Sareyka. Messiah responded with a six-point run of their own, taking the lead and never losing it as they grabbed the largest lead of the match at six points. The Chargers fought to stay in it, but the Falcons closed out the set 25-20 and took a 2-1 advantage in the match.
 
Sareyka got the scoring started for LBC with a kill in set four, her 500th career kill as a junior, then followed up with an ace. The lead extended to six points as Fletcher and Sareyka had kills and sophomore Candace Fox landed a service ace, forcing the Falcons into both timeouts for the set. The lead held steady as the Chargers were up 18-12 past the middle of the set, but Messiah began to creep back into it as they came all the way back to tie the set at 20-20. Then, the Falcons had four points in a row to reach match point, but the Chargers fended off three straight clinchers including a kill from Sareyka to tie it at 24. After taking the lead, Messiah was able to get three straight kills to seal the set 27-25 and win the match in four sets over LBC.
 
By the Numbers:
- The Falcons led in kills 48-29 and had 96 total digs to the Chargers' 73, while the Chargers landed a season-high 14 service aces with the Falcons landing 12
- Lea Sareyka led the Chargers with 12 kills, 12 digs, and a career-high eight service aces
- Jessica Fletcher added nine kills and nine digs
- Senior Madison Timberlake had a career-high 24 digs on defense
- Junior Madeline Reed had a season-high 26 assists
- Makenzie Adams had 12 kills and 18 digs for the Falcons while Cynthia Boller had a match-high 16 kills
 
Information to Know:
The Chargers are now 0-13 all-time against Messiah and are 0-5 on the road against the Falcons. This is the Chargers' first time having a record two games under .500 since the start of the 2022 season when they began 0-5, finishing 18-12 that season. Lea Sareyka eclipsed 500 career kills in tonight's match, making her the 15th player in program history to reach the milestone and the first since Morgan Fenstermacher in 2023. Sareyka also had a career-high 54 attacks in tonight's match and moved into 15th all-time in that category with 1,572 TAs. Lea's eight service aces tonight make her the 10th player in program history with 8+ aces in a single match. Madeline Reed moved into 5th place in program history in career assists tonight with 1,288, passing Katie Coomber (2011-14) on the all-time list.
 
Up Next:
The Chargers travel out to Circleville, Ohio this weekend as they take on Ohio Christian at 11:00 a.m. and Rochester Christian at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 13.