ALTOONA, Pa. – The Thiel College men's volleyball team opened the 2018 season on Wednesday night with 3-2 victory over non-conference opponent Penn State Altoona.

The Tomcats came out firing as they swept the first two sets to take a commanding lead.

The Lions answered with a 25-12 win in the third set and 25-16 win in the fourth set to even the match.

A back-and-forth fifth set found Thiel down, 13-12. However, back-to-back errors by the Lions gave the Tomcats an opportunity to take the match with Jacob Burkley (Waterford, Pa./Fort LeBoeuf) stepping to the line to serve for match point. Burkley placed the serve right on the back line and inbounds to ace the Lions. Thiel took the fifth set 16-14, and the match, 3-2.

Mitchell Patterson (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan) and Dan Zajac (Ambridge, Pa./Ambridge) both collected double-digit kills on the night with 16 and 11, respectively. Stephen Borgen (Pittsburgh, Pa./Shaler Area) added a game-high 39 assists and Ryan Sumarsono (Victor, N.Y./Victor) tallied 18 digs.

The Tomcats will compete in the Elmira College Invitational Friday. Thiel will face D'Youville at 6 p.m. and Elmira immediately following.