GREENVILLE, Pa. – The Thiel men's volleyball squad suffered a pair of setbacks Saturday at the 2nd annual Continental Volleyball Conference (CVC) Crossover, hosted by Thiel. The Tomcats fell 3-1 to the fourth-ranked Juniata Eagles in their opener, and 3-1 to Stevenson University in the nightcap.

Earlier in the day, the Tomcats hung tough with the Juniata Eagles, who came into the weekend as the fourth-ranked team in all of DIII. The Tomcats dropped the first set, 28-26, before rebounding to win set two, 25-19. The Eagles had an answer though, as they won the next two sets, 25-17 and 25-20 to take the match.
 
Dante McCoy (Reading, Pa./Holy Name) led the way for the Tomcats with 15 kills and nine digs. Corey Hamilton (Meadville, Pa./Maplewood) tallied a team-best 41 assists, while Colin Vitale (Pittsburgh, Pa./Montour) added ten digs and four assists from his libero position. Michael Whitelock (Pittsburgh, Pa./Schenley) added nine kills and two total blocks, while John Turner (Cambridge Springs, Pa./Cambridge Springs) finished with eight kills.

In the 3-1 loss to Stevenson (25-20, 25-22, 26-24, 25-19), Hamilton totaled four kills and 40 assists. McCoy again led the offense, piling up 16 kills and four digs while Andrew Pohlod (Gibsonia, Pa./Pine-Richland) added 11 kills and three service aces.
 
Stevenson came into the match on the outside of the NCAA DIII Top-15 rankings, receiving the most votes (9) for a school not in the Top-15. They strengthened their case for being ranked earlier in the day with a 3-0 upset win over the second-ranked Carthage University Red Men.

Thiel (4-3) returns to play tomorrow when they face Eastern Mennonite University at 10 a.m., followed by a match against the Red Men of Carthage at 2 p.m.