GREENVILLE, Pa. – Dante McCoy (Reading, Pa., Holy Name) and Kyle Turkalj (Greensburg, Pa., Hempfield) combined for 23 kills as the third-seeded Thiel College Tomcats earned a 3-1 victory (26-28, 25-17, 25-20, 26-24) over the second-seeded Milwaukee School of Engineering Friday evening in the opening round of the Midwest III Volleyball Conference Championship. The two-day event is being held at Beeghly Gymnasium in Greenville.

McCoy led the Thiel (10-19) attack, finishing with 13 kills and four blocks. Turkalj posted 10 kills, five blocks, and two digs while Grant Kocher (Venetia, Pa., Peters Township) added nine kills, 10 digs, and three blocks. Morgan Carson (Winter Springs, Fla., Winter Springs) and Andrew Pohlod (Gibsonia, Pa., Pine-Richland) each added eight kills in the four-game win, with Carson totaling 11 digs and Pohlod adding nine. Corey Hamilton (Meadville, Pa., Maplewood) finished with 42 assists, four kills, and four digs while Jacob Schultz (Cochranton, Pa., Cochranton) tallied 17 digs from his libero position.

The Raiders (11-16), winners of last year's M-III Conference Championship, were paced by the play of Max Martin and Alex Harbour. Martin finished with 18 kills while Harbor added 13 kills and nine digs. Josh Avery dished out 43 assists and served a pair of aces while Jack Geary contributed nine blocks.

The winner of Saturday's 11 a.m. match featuring top-seeded and fourth-ranked Carthage College and fourth-seeded Fontbonne University will take on Thiel at 3 p.m. to decide the conference champion.The conference champion will earn a berth in the Molten Division III Men's Invitational Volleyball Championship, being hosted by Nazareth College (April 15-16).