GREENVILLE, Pa. (Feb. 28) -- Ezra Oesterling (Shelocta, Pa./West Shamokin) tied the programs single match aces record with nine as the Thiel College Men's Volleyball team served 16 aces on the night to top Grove City College 3-1 in Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) action on Maenpa Court at Beeghly Gymnasium Friday night.

The Tomcats extend their winning streak to four and improve to 11-6 (4-0) with set score wins of 25-17, 25-15, 21-25 and 25-8 while the Wolverines drop to 8-10 (3-2). 

Thiel's 16 aces were tied for the third most in a match by a PAC team this season and were the most by the Tomcats since they whipped up 19 versus Wells in Feb. 2023.

Thiel jumped to a 6-1 lead in set four as Oesterling closed the run with a pair of aces. Leading 14-7, Thiel used an 8-0 run that featured four Oesterling aces to pull ahead 22-7. The Tomcats ended the frame with a 3-0 stretch to take the match. 

Oesterling finished with 12 kills on .276 hitting and four digs. His nine aces are the most by any PAC player this season and the second most by any Division III player in a four-set match this season.

The Blue and Gold jumped ahead 4-1 to open the match as Ben Lowell (Portland, Ore./Sunset) had a pair of aces in the stretch. Grove City got within 3 at 16-13, but the Tomcats tallied 3 of the next 4 points to go ahead 20-14. Kaleb Proudfoot (Butler, Pa./Butler) ended the frame with a pair of kills as Thiel went ahead 1-0.

Lowell served a career-best six aces, dished out a match-pacing 36 assists and dug a team-high seven balls. Proudfoot posted a match-leading and season-best-tying 14 kills on .636 hitting from the middle to go with four digs. 

The home side used a 3-0 spurt early in set two spearheaded by a Jake Dies (Cambridge Springs, Pa./Cambridge Springs) kill to pull ahead 8-4. A 5-0 run which featured two Oesterling aces and kills from Proudfoot and JC Govannucci (North Huntington, Pa./Norwin) pushed Thiel's lead to 18-8. Rex Dugan (Covington, Wash./Tahoma) collected a kill down the stretch as Thiel went ahead 2-0 in the match.

Dies notched nine kills on .467 hitting while Govannucci added five kills and a trio of digs. Dugan finished with one kill in reserve.

The Tomcats looked primed for a sweep and jumped ahead 9-6 in set three, but a 9-4 Grove City run gave the visitors a 15-13 edge. The Wolverines played side-out ball the rest of the frame to get on the board.

The Tomcats' first-ball side out rate was at least 72 percent in each set, including 100 percent (8-for-8) in set four. Thiel hit .350 for the match and held Grove City to .106. The Blue and Gold held a slight 39-35 advantage in digs. 

Men's Volleyball returns to action tomorrow in a road battle of PAC unbeaten squads versus Hiram College at 1 p.m.