The Briar Cliff Men's Volleyball team was victorious in a close match-up with Graceland University on Saturday. The Chargers defeated the Yellow Jackets 3-2 (25-20, 24-26, 23-25, 25-22, 16-14) in their first five-set match of the season. 

The Chargers took command of the match early winning set one 25-20 after trading points in the beginning of the set. The BCU hitting prowess cooled off in set two and the Yellow Jackets rallied to defeat the Chargers in two straight sets by just two points 26-24 and 25-23. Head Coach Trevor Schirman relied on the depth of his bench to pull the team out of a mid-match slump and came away with a win in set four 25-22 pushing the Yellow Jackets to a five-set match; the first five-set match on the season for the Chargers. "A great team victory today against a scrappy Graceland team," praised Schirman "It took three different lineups and four different match-ups to find the combination that worked. The men showed patience and character today."

Set five of the match challenged the Chargers' fortitude and mental toughness when after point one, setter Kyle Cox left the match with an injury. Again, the Charger bench stepped up with Hunter Miller and Timothy Payan Jr. working in tandem to generate the Charger offense. Down 4-9 in the fifth, serving runs by Brandon Oswald and Daniel Borsi were integral and sparked a Charger come-back. The Chargers won set five 16-14 to seal the match. Coach Schirman attributed it to a great team effort adding, "I am especially proud of those that struggled today but kept motivating their teammates from the bench. The men exhibited key behavior necessary to achieve a team victory."

Leading the Chargers was Brandon Oswald with 20 kills and a .251 hitting average on the match. He also chipped in six digs and one serving ace. Kyle Cox led all setters with 26 assists and had three kills on three attempts. Hunter Miller tallied 20 assists and six digs. Nathaniel Johnson and Tyler Godown each had 10 kills apiece and Noah Marasco-Ayau paced all defenders with 22 digs. 

The win puts the Chargers at 12-4 overall. They will be back in action on Thursday March 5 with a road match against conference foe University of Jamestown (N.D.) at 6:00pm.