The Lancaster Bible College Men's Volleyball team hosted Wilkes on Tuesday night in non-conference play, earning a hard-fought 3-0 sweep at home featuring over 40 ties and 18 lead changes. The Chargers improve to 2-1 overall while the Colonels drop to 1-2 overall.
 
How it Happened:
The teams traded the first six points of the match before Wilkes took a 6-3 lead, with the deficit staying the same until the Chargers got four in a row including two service aces by Zeke Clark (Jr.). The Chargers then won four of the next five points with back-to-back kills by Braden Escover (Fr.), holding onto that lead for the rest of the set with major pushback from the Colonels. Escover and Clark each added kills, but Wilkes tied the set at 24 to set it to extra points, but Kevin Bryant (Jr.) ended the set on a block to win it 27-25.
 
Wilkes held a steady lead early in the second set, leading by as many as six points at 11-5 before the Chargers rattled off five straight points with an ace by Matt Degan (Fr.) and a kill and a block by Bryant. Wilkes responded with three straight, but that was answered by the Chargers with four in a row including a kill and an ace by Timothy Fletcher (Jr.) to tie the set at 14-14. After two more Colonel points, LBC rattled off five in a row to take a three-point lead. Wilkes pulled back ahead by one late before a Clark kill got the Chargers to set point, but the Colonels would force extra points again, this time for a super-extended set as the teams traded set points and ties. The score escalated into the 30s before Clark got two kills in a row, setting up a Colonels error to finally seal set two for the Chargers 34-32, the longest set in Lancaster Bible's program history.
 
Carson Hoover (Jr.) picked up a pair of kills early in the third set, but it was Wilkes that held an early advantage with a small lead. The Chargers surged for a four-point run starting with a kill by Jaiden Flanagan (Jr.), then three straight kills by Escover made it 14-11 in favor of LBC. Wilkes powered back with a 5-1 run to take a one-point lead a few minutes later, with the teams then trading two-point spurts back and forth as the set ran late. The Colonels got to set point, but a service error sent the set to extra points for the third time in a row. Hoover and Bryant combined on a block to force match point, then Escover put it away with one final kill to earn the Chargers a 27-25 win an arduous three-set sweep at home.
 
By the Numbers:
- The Chargers led in kills 50-38 and in service aces 5-2, while the Colonels had more blocks with 11 to the Chargers' five
- Braden Escover led the Chargers with a career-high 18 kills on .500 hitting
- Kevin Bryant added 10 kills and five total blocks
- Jaiden Flanagan also reached 10 kills and added six digs
- Timothy Fletcher recorded a career-high 40 assists and Nicholas Marion led the team with 10 digs
- The Colonels were led by Carter Otto with a team-high 14 kills and nine digs
 
Information to Know:
The Chargers improve to a perfect 9-0 all-time against Wilkes dating back to 2017. The second set was the longest set in LBC program history with 66 combined points, ending with a 34-32 Chargers win. The match featured 44 total ties and 18 lead changes, including 21 tied scores in the third set alone along with 10 lead changes.
 
Up Next:
The Chargers are on the road on Friday, January 23 as they travel to Buena Vista, Va. to take on #4 Southern Virginia at 3:00 p.m. and Bridgewater (Va.) at 5:00 p.m.