The Lancaster Bible College Women's Volleyball team hosted a United East match on Tuesday night against Penn St. Harrisburg, falling short in the fifth set as the teams battled all the way through. The Chargers fall to 6-9 overall and 1-1 in conference while the Lions improve to 9-4 overall and 2-0 in conference.
 
How it Happened:
Kills by juniors Eden Belford and Jessica Fletcher put the Chargers up early, but it was a dogfight in the first set as neither team led by more than three points throughout the set. The teams saw four lead changes and eight ties as they traded runs in the middle of the set, with the Chargers getting four in a row out of a timeout with a kill and an ace by Fletcher and two kills from junior Lea Sareyka. Harrisburg had four in a row late to pull ahead by three, but the Chargers fended off two set points to tie the set at 24-24. After a Lions error, senior Riley Dodrer landed a big block to end the set in favor of LBC 26-24.
 
The second set was dominated by the Lions as they got out to a 4-0 lead, putting together multiple three- and four-point runs in the set. The Chargers tied the set at 8-8 on a kill by Dodrer, then took the lead 16-15 after a block from Belford and senior Jessica Hendricks set up a Lions error. Harrisburg had a big answer, however, scoring seven of the next eight points to take a five-point edge, completing the set win 25-20 and forcing four sets.
 
Lancaster Bible owned set three as there were no ties or lead changes, with the Chargers starting up 8-2 after a service ace from sophomore Maggie Kwiatkowski. LBC led by as many as nine points in the set, but the Lions fought back as they outscored the Chargers 12-5 in the middle of the set including a five-point run to pull within one point. The Chargers did not relinquish their lead as freshman Merliya Qin got her first career kill and junior Madeline Reed landed an ace to help win the set 25-20 and put LBC up 2-1 in the match.
 
Down a set, the Lions took control of set four with a 5-1 start including four kills, but the Chargers fought back and tied the match 7-7 on a Fletcher kill. The teams traded three-point swings for a tie at ten, then Harrisburg won seven of ten points to take a four-point lead. The Chargers could not catch up in the set as they fell 25-22 and the Lions forced a decisive fifth set in conference play.
 
Harrisburg went up 2-0 to start set five on kills, but kills from Sareyka and Belford tied it up at two. Dodrer and Reed combined on a block and then Dodrer had a kill for a 6-5 Charger lead, but it was all Lions from there as they went on a 7-1 tear to take control of the set. Momentum belonged to Harrisburg for the rest of the set as they won 15-10 and stole the road conference victory in Lancaster.
 
By the Numbers:
- The Chargers held a slight edge in kills 53-48 but were out-blocked by the Lions 13-6
- Lea Sareyka led the Chargers with 17 kills
- Jessica Fletcher had 11 kills, three aces, and a career-high 19 digs
- Senior Madison Timberlake recorded a career-high 29 digs and Madeline Reed dished 44 total assists with 15 digs and two aces
- The Lions were led by Camryn Wettstone with 16 kills and Brianna Ondishin Ribon with 21 digs and eight kills

Information to Know:
The Chargers are now 9-5 all-time against Penn St. Harrisburg and have their three-game win streak against the Lions snapped. This is the Chargers' first home conference loss since October 25, 2023 and is their earliest loss in United East play since the 2021 season when they lost the opener to Morrisville St. Lea Sareyka crossed the 600-kill mark for her career tonight and moved into 12th place all-time in kills with 615, passing Lauren (Miller) Robertson (2006-09). Sareyka also tied a season- and career-high total with 17 kills and has 10+ kills in seven straight games, the longest such streak of her career. Madison Timberlake set a new career mark with 29 digs tonight and moves up into 17th place in program history with 669 total digs, passing both Heather Flora (1996-98) and Hannah Gipe (2015-18). Riley Dodrer had three blocks tonight and two block assists, moving her into 5th place all-time for Women's Volleyball with 128 block assists.
 
Up Next:
The Chargers remain at home on Thursday, October 2 as they host Cairn at 7:00 p.m. for another United East matchup.