SPRINGFIELD, Ohio (Jan. 11) -- The Thiel College men's volleyball team closed the Wittenberg Kickoff Classic with a 3-1 non-conference loss to host Wittenburg University Saturday evening at Pam Evans Smith Arena. 

The Tomcats fall to 1-2 on the year while the Tigers improve to 3-0 on the season with set score wins of 25-22, 19-25, 25-21 and 25-19. 

The Tomcats played there best set offensively of the season in set two as they hit .462 as a team in route to a 25-19 win to even the match at 1. The Blue and Gold held a 15-12 lead in the set and used a 4-0 run capped off by a Kaleb Proudfoot (Butler, Pa./Butler) kill to pull ahead by 7. The Tigers got within 5 at 21-16, but an Ezra Oesterling (Shelocta, Pa./West Shamokin) kill pushed Thiel's lead back to 6.

Oesterling dominated on the outside with a match- and career-high 20 kills while hitting .325 on the left pin. He tallied double digit kills in all three of Thiel's matches on the weekend.

Proudfoot finished with nine kills and hit .533 on the match. He has hit over .420 in all three matches so far this season.

Thiel held a 22-20 set-one edge off a 3-0 run from Jake Dies (Cambridge Springs, Pa./Cambridge Springs) as the senior logged a kill to tie the match at 20 and followed that up with back-to-back aces. The Tigers stole the set on a 5-0 run, scoring 3 of their points in transition. Dies posted eight kills and a match-high-tying two aces in the loss.

Thiel jumped to a 9-5 lead in set three before Wittenberg answered with a 5-0 run to pull ahead 10-9. A block from James Cromwell-Young (Virginia Beach, Va./Green Run) and Oesterling tied the match at 19, but the Tigers notched the next 4 points and 6 of the last 8 in the set to go ahead 2-1. Cromwell-Young logged five kills and hit .364 in the middle. 

The Tigers rolled to the match victory in set four as they jumped to a 9-3 lead and extended it to 19-12 late in the set. Thiel made a late push and got within 4 (22-18), but the home side scored 3-of-4 points to close the set and match.

Ben Lowell (Portland, Ore./Sunset) dished out a match-pacing 42 assists and dug a team-best 10 balls. Josh Hovan (Baden, Pa./Ambridge) and Will Zimmerman (Cranberry, Pa./Seneca Valley) each dug eight balls with the latter adding seven kills.

Men's volleyball will host its annual Blue-Gold scrimmage next Wednesday at 6 p.m. on Maenpa Court at Beeghly Gymnasium.