ASTON, Pa. – This coming Wednesday evening, the Neumann University Men's Volleyball team will hit the road against Lancaster Bible College in the semifinals of the United East Conference tournament.
 
Neumann finished the season with a conference record of 5-3, good enough to earn the fourth seed in the tournament. They defeated No. 5 Saint Elizabeth University in straight sets, 25-17, 25-22, 25-21, to clinch their spot in the semifinals. Lancaster Bible is the top seed in the tournament with a perfect 8-0 United East record.
 
Their only regular season meeting was on March 27th, inside the Mirenda Center and the Chargers took the match 3-0. The Knights were slow out of the gate with a 25-12 loss in the first set but battled hard in the second set, falling 25-20. It was even closer in the third but still, Lancaster Bible won it, 25-23.
 
Trey Edmonds led the Knights with nine kills and nine digs. Victor John added eight kills with a hitting percentage of .538. John was also a key defensively with four total blocks, two of them block solos. Noah Banaag was the top passer with 21 assists.
 
Over the entire season, Edmonds leads the team with 321 kills, which breaks his own single-season program record from last year. Veryl Burns has 151 kills and John has 136. Banaag leads the Knights in assists with 596, and Edmonds has 33 services aces, just one shy of the single-season program record.
 
On the defensive side, Christian DeMarco leads all of Division III with 3.75 digs per set. He was unavailable for the regular season match-up against the Chargers, so his return should boost the Knights' chances. His 259 total digs this season rewrites the program record book. Burns leads the Knights in total blocks with 53, giving him the top three spots in program history.
 
The other semifinal match features the No. 3 seeded Cairn University, who won their first round match over Valley Forge, 3-1, and the No. 2 seeded Wilson College, who received a first-round bye. The winners will play for the United East Championship on Saturday, April 12^th at the home of the highest remaining seed.
 
The Knights' semifinal match is scheduled for a 7:00 PM start, on the campus of Lancaster Bible College in Lancaster, Pa.