ERIE, Pa. (Jan. 24) -- The Thiel College men's volleyball team opened the AMCC/PAC Crossover with a 3-0 sweep over Hilbert College Friday evening at Penn State Behrend's Junker Center Gym.
The Tomcats won by set scores of 25-20, 25-21 and 25-10 to rise to 2-2 on the year while the Hawks drop to 0-1.
Thiel fell behind 11-5 in the opening set as Hilbert used a 4-0 run to pull ahead by 6. The Tomcats got within 2 at 16-14 and used a 3-0 run capped off by a
Jake Dies (Cambridge Springs, Pa./Cambridge Springs) ace to go ahead 17-16. A 3-1 Hawks run made it 19-18 before the Blue and Gold responded with a 6-0 spurt to have five set-point opportunities.
Connor McInnis (Southington, Conn./Southington) had a pair of aces in the stretch. A Hawks' attack error gave the Tomcats the set at 25-20.
Dies logged seven kills and hit .286 from the right side. McInnis finished with two aces as Thiel served 4 of its 7 seven aces in the first frame.
Set two was tied at 8 before a 7-1 Tomcats run capped off by a
Bryce Lizanich (Coraopolis, Pa./Montour) kill made it 15-9 and forced a Hilbert timeout. Trailing 17-13, the Hawks pieced together a 5-0 run to push ahead 18-17. Thiel responded by scoring 5 of the next 6 points to go ahead 22-19.
Ezra Oesterling (Shelocta, Pa./West Shamokin) had two kills in the run while
Kaleb Proudfoot (Butler, Pa./Butler) had one and combined with a
Ben Lowell (Portland, Ore./Sunset) on a block. After a pair of side outs each, the Blue and Gold went ahead 2-0 as Lizanich and Dies combined for a block to end the set.
Lizanich posted career-bests in kills (nine) and hitting percentage (.636, min. 10 attempts) out of the middle. Oesterling had a game-best 10 kills and hit .280 on the left pin while digging four balls. The West Shamokin High School grad has notched at least 10 kills in all four matches on the year.
Lowell posted game bests in assists (32) and digs (seven) to go with a pair of block assists. Proudfoot finished with six kills and two block assists.
Thiel pushed its lead in set three to 11-5 with a 3-0 run capped off by a
Will Zimmerman (Cranberry, Pa./Seneca Valley) kill. Zimmerman contributed six kills and hit .286 while posting four digs on the night. The Tomcats outscored the Hawks 14-5 the rest of the set to cruise to sweep.
The Blue and Gold hit a season-set-best .600 in set three and held the Hawks to -.037 in the frame. For the match, Thiel hit a season-best .337 and held Hilbert to a season-opponent-low .085.
Men's volleyball continues play in the AMCC/PAC Crossover tomorrow with matches against Penn State Altoona (2 p.m.) and host Penn State Behrend (4 p.m.).
