BUENA VISTA, Va. – In its second match in as many days, the Southern Virginia University men's volleyball team (2-0, 0-0) recorded another sweep, defeating Lancaster Bible College (1-1, 0-0), 3-0.

"It's always a good feeling to start the season like this because you never really know how good you are going to be until you start playing matches," declared Head Coach Tom Peterson. "When we are playing well we can be a really good team."

Early on in the first set, the Chargers benefited from multiple hitting errors by the Knights, aiding their early 8-4 advantage. Southern Virginia, however, grabbed seven of the sets next eight points as Lancaster Bible added four errors of its own. From that point on the teams went back and forth, leading to a tie at 16 points apiece. The Knights would again go on a run, scoring five of the games next six points to take a stranglehold on the opening set, 21-17. Back-to-back points gave the Chargers some momentum, but a huge kill from Christian Sheaffer would ignite the home crowd who urged their team to victory. Two consecutive kills from Jeremy Brown would close out the set, giving the Knights an early advantage, 1-0.

Southern Virginia, after giving up the second sets first two points, earned the next nine points, including three kills and an ace from the service line from Christian Sheaffer. Lancaster Bible was never able to put together any significant stretches of solid play and another five-point run by Southern Virginia saw the Knights take the second set, 25-8. The eight points scored in the set is just the seventh time in program history the team has held an opposition to single digit scoring and the second time in as many days. "I was very pleased in the second set that we kept going," exclaimed Peterson. "I was waiting for us to come back down to earth but it never happened."

The third set was tightly contested for the first 17 points, but Southern Virginia would steal nine of the sets next 10 points to take an 18-9 lead. Although the Chargers gave everything they had to make a comeback and force an extra set, the Knights would come away with a 25-19 victory to record their second consecutive sweep. Kristo Bianchin proved vital to the team's success in the third and final set, going a perfect four-for-four on hitting to lead the team.

Sophomore Christian Cheaffer again led the team in kills, notching a game and career-high 13 after his nine yesterday. When asked about his accomplishments Sheaffer stated, "I credit this success to the hard work being done in practice. All the guys are working hard and challenging each other and it's really paying off! We still have a long way to go, but starting off the season 2-0 is a good start!"

"It was one of Christian's best matches," said coach Peterson of his sophomore outside hitter. "He kind of did it all for us tonight and it was really fun to watch."

As a team, Southern Virginia had 38 kills compared to Lancaster Bible's 12. The Knight's setter, Tyler Sheaffer, played an integral part in the huge margin between the teams, recording a career-high 32 assists. Jeremy Brown also reached double-digit kills with 12 while Jayton Hall had another solid performance, registering eight kills.

"I was really happy with Tyler's play," the Knights Head Coach conveyed. "We are trying to set the ball a bit faster than what we have done in the past which requires even more accuracy from the setter and Tyler did a very nice job of that tonight. I was also impressed with his serving which really adds to what we want to do as a team. He was a very valuable player for us today."
 
The team as a whole served very well, recording 11 aces with Christian Sheaffer and Jeremy Brown each having four to tie for the game-high. "We talked about our serves a lot recently as a team," stated Sheaffer. "It is very important to get your serve in, but our main goal is to get the other team out of system. Once we do that, it makes winning a whole lot easier!"

"We served really tough tonight and they weren't able to get into their offense which limited their options and allowed our defense to get set," added Peterson.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Knights were led by libero Justin Madsen who again impressed, securing 13 digs. Southern Virginia had 14 more digs than Lancaster Bible, attributing to the team's overall success on the court. "That is now two matches in a row with exceptional play from our libero, Justin," related Peterson.

The knights will now prepare for another weekend of back-to-back games, beginning next Friday, Jan. 27 when Arcadia visits Knight Arena for a non-conference clash.

"Having our SVU home crowd is amazing," declared Sheaffer. "We can only do some much on the court, so having our student body cheering for us is a big intimidating factor for the other team!"

For all the most up-to-date information regarding Southern Virginia University men's volleyball visit knightathletics.com and follow @knightmvolleyball on Instagram.