SPRINGFIELD, Ohio (Jan. 11) -- The Thiel College men's volleyball team opened day two of the Wittenberg Kickoff Classic Saturday morning with a five-set non-conference loss to Roanoke College at Pam Evans Smith Arena. 

The Tomcats fell by set scores of 25-16, 23-25, 19-25, 25-15 and 11-15 to drop to 1-1 on the year. The Maroons rise to 1-1 on the young season.

Trailing 2-1 in the match, the Tomcats used a 13-5 run to turn a 3-2 deficit into a 15-7 lead. Strong serving and a large block presence with Kaleb Proudfoot (Butler, Pa./Butler) in the front row caused six Maroons attacking errors during the stretch. Ezra Oesterling (Shelocta, Pa./West Shamokin) tallied three kills during the run while Proudfoot had one kill and one block assist in the stretch. Thiel closed the set on a 5-1 run with kills from Proudfoot, Will Zimmerman (Cranberry, Pa./Seneca Valley) and Oesterling along with two more Roanoke errors to force the fifth set. 

The Tomcats held the Maroons to -.120 hitting in the fourth set (six kills and nine errors on 25 swings). 

Proudfoot tied for the team-high with 11 kills and no errors on 19 swings to hit a match-best .579 out of the middle. He logged a match-best three solo blocks and totaled two block assists. 

Oesterling added 11 kills as well on the outside and posted a team-best 13 digs for his first collegiate double-double. Zimmerman collected nine kills on the left pin and dug six balls.

Roanoke jumped to a 5-2 lead in set five before a 3-1 Thiel run made it 6-5. The Maroons answered with a 4-0 run and played side-out ball the rest of the way to clinch the match.

Thiel took the opening frame with ease and used a 3-0 spurt capped off by a Ben Lowell (Portland, Ore./Sunset) ace to pullahead 13-8. The Blue and Gold took 5 of the last 6 points of the set, 4 of which came on Roanoke errors, to take the set 25-16. The Tomcats held the Maroons to .094 hitting in the first frame.

Lowell served a team-leading three aces and dished out a team-high 36 assists while digging three balls. 

Thiel trailed 22-19 in the second set but back-to-back kills from James Cromwell-Young (Virginia Beach, Va./Green Run) made it a 1-point set late. Roanoke took 3 of the final 5 points of the frame to get on the board. The Maroon's trailed 7-6 in set three before scoring 6 straight points to pull ahead by 5. The two sides played nearly even the rest of the way as Roanoke took the set 25-19 to go ahead 2-1.

Cromwell-Young posted five kills in the middle to go with 1.5 total blocks (one BS, one BA). 

Thiel outpaced Roanoke in digs 52-44 as David Gonzalez (El Paso, Texas/Eastwood) notched 11 of them at the libero spot. From the service line, the Maroons missed 29 serves but logged nine aces while the Tomcats missed 16 serves and had four aces.

Thiel returns to action later this afternoon against host Wittenberg at 3 p.m.