THE OVERVIEW

• Results: Maranatha 3-2 Lancaster Bible (18-25, 18-25, 13-25), Maranatha 1-3 Cairn (21-25, 23-25, 25-22, 12-25)
• Venue: Horst Athletic Center, Lancaster Bible College
• Attendance: 163, 131
• Record: Sabercats are now 4-20
• Next Match for MBU: Saturday, Mar. 24 at Lancaster Tri (Pa.) - 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. EDT

THE LEAD

LANCASTER, Pa. — The Sabercats took 2 losses to powerful NCCAA DI schools today, as MBU stayed competitive in losses to Lancaster Bible College and Cairn University.

This concludes the Sabercats' spring trip, which saw them finish with a respectable 2-3 week. Derek Wallis led Maranatha with 15 kills on the day.

THE STORY

Maranatha's attack was limited in the first set against LBC, as they were held to just 2 kills by a hard-working Charger defense.

Despite the limitation on offense, the Sabercats managed to hang with their hosts, who fought service errors for the majority of the set. Devon Steuerwald was the point man for the 2 kills late on, but the Sabercats' efforts were no match for the 15-kill offense that Lancaster put out in the opener. At the end of the first set, LBC took home a 25-18 win.

MBU stayed close in the second set thanks to some early kills from Brendan Burckart, Steuerwald, and Wallis, but it was then that the Chargers lived up to their name, as the hosts swung their way out to a 13-8 lead, forcing Coach Torey Rosen to call a timeout. Maranatha came out of the timeout with 2 unanswered points, but LBC was in the zone as a whole, as they maintained their lead throughout the rest of the set. At the end of it, LBC had pasted the same scoreline from the opening set into the second frame.

Maranatha was hoping to resurrect some of the magic from yesterday to post another comeback, but the Chargers were not so easily fooled. A 12-1 run from LBC in the middle of the set helped them secure the 12-point win and the sweep of the match.

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In the match that concluded their spring trip, the Sabercats gave Cairn a run for their money in a match that was not the cleanest effort from the two teams. MBU recorded 44 points through the first 2 sets and took the third set by 2 points before falling 25-12 to conclude the weekend.

Burckart and Andrew Carpenter kept the Sabercats competitive in the first set by combining for 6 kills, and the duo continued their contributions into the second set. Carpenter would finish the match with 7 kills and 6 blocks while Burckart compiled a career-high 6 kills in the contest. But even with the strong performances from these two, the Sabercats saw the first 2 frames slip away to the tune of 21-25 and 23-25.

MBU allowed Cairn to take the first point in set 3, but the Blue and Gold never trailed from that point on, winning the third set, 25-22. The third set was no anomaly, as a balanced MBU attack joined forces with some attack errors from Cairn. This time, the Sabercats did enough to win the set, as they limited their own attack errors to just 5 - a step down from the 21 errors from the opening 2 sets.

Unfortunately for MBU, they fell on the wrong side of the break-even point in the match, as their 34 kills as a team was offset by 35 attack errors. Wallis (11 digs) and Taylor Dafoe (12 digs) did what they could to frustrate the Highlanders' attack throughout, but in the final set, Cairn took control of the festivities to close out the match with a 25-12 win.

At the end of the day, MBU had shown the grit and resilience that has characterized this first-year team since the start of the season. This time, they had 2 wins to show for their character on this spring trip.

THE NUMBERS

Maranatha recorded 50 kills on the day.

Tim Kile registered 40 assists in the 2 matches combined.

Burckart's 6 kills against Cairn was a career high.

MBU's mark of 47 digs in the Cairn match was their fourth-highest mark in that category this season.

THE CALENDAR

The Sabercats' next match will be at Clarke (JV) Friday, March 30 at 2 p.m. Catch the details at mbusabercats.com/composite.