SPRINGFIELD, Ohio – The Thiel College men's volleyball team claimed their first ever conference championship on Saturday as they defeated Wittenberg University 3-1 in the finals of the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) men's volleyball championship tournament.
 
The Tomcats downed the Tigers in four sets (3-1) to take the AMCC title in their first season in the AMCC after moving from the Continental Volleyball Conference (CVC) after the 2018 season. This is Thiel's first conference championship dating back to the program's inaugural season in 2010.
 
The Tomcats split the regular season series with the Tigers as they won the first matchup 3-2 on Feb. 23 before getting swept in their second match 3-0 on March 30.
 
Thiel defeated the second-seeded Golden Tornadoes of Geneva College on Friday night in five sets to move on and face the first-seeded Tigers.
 
Thiel dropped the first set of the AMCC final (25-22) before storming back and taking the next three sets (25-18, 25-21, 25-20) to down the Tigers in four sets.
 
A balanced Tomcat attack saw four Tomcats post nine or more kills as Jacobe DeRue (13), Jacob Burkley (Waterford, Pa./Fort LeBoeuf) (11), Chance Hoffman (Cochranton, Pa./Cochranton) (10), and Mitch Patterson (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan) (9) led the Thiel offense as the team collectively hit .315 on the day.
 
Stephen Borgen (Pittsburgh, Pa./Shaler Area) racked up a game-high 40 assists, while Ryan Sumarsono (Victor, N.Y./Victor) added a team-high 14 digs. Defensively, Hoffman and DeRue collected six and five blocks, respectively in the four-set victory.
 
Burkley and DeRue were both named to the All-Tournament team.
 
Thiel ends the year with a 17-12 overall record. 17 wins in a season stands as the second most wins in program history.