BETHANY, W.Va. (Feb. 11) -- The Thiel College men's volleyball team dominated Bethany College in a 3-0 road sweep to open Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) competition at Hummel Fieldhouse Tuesday evening.

The Tomcats improve to 5-5 overall and 1-0 in league play with set score wins of 25-14, 25-12 and 25-19 while the Bison drop to 1-5 (0-2) on the year and 1-31 in the past two seasons.

The Tomcats jumped to a 12-4 lead in set one with a Kaleb Proudfoot (Butler, Pa./Butler) kill and pushed the lead to 9 (17-8) on an Ezra Oesterling (Shelocta, Pa./West Shamokin) kill. Trailing 19-11, Bethany cobbled together 3 straight points to get within 5, but a 6-0 Thiel run ended the frame and gave Thiel a 1-0 lead. The Tomcats hit .389 in the opening frame and held Bethany to -.045.

Proudfoot posted a match-best 11 kills on .529 hitting in the middle to go with a pair of blocks. Oesterling, the reigning PAC Newcomer of the Week, tallied eight kills, three digs and one ace. 

Bethany jumped to a 2-1 lead, its largest of the night, to open set two before three consecutive Bryce Lizanich (Coraopolis, Pa./Montour) kills spearheaded a 9-0 Thiel run that put the visitors ahead 10-2. Leading 11-5, Proudfoot notched four straight kills which grew the Blue and Gold's lead to 15-8. A JC Govannucci (North Huntington, Pa./Norwin) kill pushed Thiel's lead to 19-9 before the Tomcats ended the set with kills from freshmen Noah Leffingwell (Seattle, Wash./Bishop Blanchet) and Sam Draa (Saegertown, Pa./Saegertown) to go ahead 2-0. The Blue and Gold hit a staggering .485 in the set and held the one-win Bison to .053

Lizanich racked up eight kills on .600 hitting from the middle to go with one block while Govannucci added four kills and a pair of digs. Leffingwell tallied two kills and Draa had one as both saw their first collegiate action in the easy victory.

The home side was within four (9-5) early in set three before a 4-0 Thiel run gave the Tomcats a 7-point cushion. Back-to-back Will Zimmerman (Cranberry, Pa./Seneca Valley) kills pushed Thiel's lead to 17-9. A Rex Dugan (Covington, Wash./Tahoma) kill grew the lead to 23-17 as Thiel rolled to the sweep by hitting .333 in the set and holding the home side to .091.

Zimmerman whacked seven kills from the left pin on .400 hitting to go with six digs, an ace and one block. Dugan collected his first collegiate kill as he saw his first varsity action of the year.

For the match, the Tomcats hit .405 and held the Bison to .032.

Ben Lowell (Portland, Ore./Sunset) dished out a match-leading 19 assists and dug five balls. Josh Hovan (Baden, Pa./Ambridge) added four digs from the libero spot.

Men's Volleyball returns to action Friday with matches against Hilbert (3 p.m.) and SUNY Poly (5 p.m.) at Hilbert's Hafner Recreation Center.