GREENVILLE, Pa. (Feb. 26) -- Thiel College Men's Volleyball opposite Jake Dies (Cambridge Springs, Pa./Cambridge Springs) collected his 500th career kill in the third set of Thiel's sweep of non-conference foe Penn State Behrend Wednesday evening on Maenpa Court at Beeghly Gymnasium.

The Tomcats improve to 10-6 (3-0 PAC) on the season with set score wins of 25-17, 25-15 and 25-19 to sweep the season series with the Lions (6-11, 1-0 AMCC). 

Dies collected career kill no. 500 in set three to make it 9-8 Behrend. Trailing 11-9, Thiel tallied 5 of the next 6 points to pull ahead 14-12. After five consecutive side outs, Thiel used a 3-0 run capped by an Ezra Oesterling (Shelocta, Pa./West Shamokin) ace to make it 19-15. The run pushed to 5-2 as the Tomcats pushed ahead 21-16. A Kaleb Proudfoot (Butler, Pa./Butler) kill ended the set and gave Thiel the clean sweep. The Tomcats' first-ball side out rate in set three sat at 90 percent (18-of-20), a season best.

Dies finished with nine kills and hit .438 from the right side to become the 11th Tomcat to eclipse 500 career kills.

Oesterling posted a match-best 10 kills on .353 hitting and a match-high-tying six digs. Proudfoot clubbed seven kills and hit .429 in the middle. 

Behrend jumped to an 8-6 lead in set two before Thiel notched the next 3 points to go ahead 9-8. A Lions side out evened things at 9, but kills from Dies and Bryce Lizanich (Coraopolis, Pa./Montour) coupled with back-to-back Ben Lowell (Portland, Ore./Sunset) aces spearheaded an 8-1 spurt that put Thiel up 18-10. Kills by Proudfoot and Tyler Hussey (Irwin, Pa./Norwin) ended the frame and put Thiel up 2-0.

Lizanich logged six kills and hit a career-best .714 (min. five swings) to go with two digs and one ace. Lowell whipped out a match-leading 32 assists, served a career-high-tying three aces and dug five balls. Hussey finished with one kill.

The Tomcats jumped ahead 7-3 to open the match. Leading 10-9, the Blue and Gold logged 3 of the next 4 points to go ahead 14-10. A 5-0 run capped by a Will Zimmerman (Cranberry, Pa./Seneca Valley) kill pushed Thiel's lead to 22-15. A Josh Pugh (Wexford, Pa./Pine Richland) ace ended the frame and gave the Tomcats a 1-0 lead.

Zimmerman notched seven kills on .308 hitting while Pugh finished with one ace and two digs.

Thiel hit .400 and held Behrend to .213. The Tomcats held the edge in digs 27-20 as Josh Hovan (Baden, Pa./Ambridge) dug five balls.

Men's Volleyball returns to action Friday when they host PAC rival Grove City at 7 p.m.