BEREA, Ohio (Feb. 8) -- The Thiel College men's volleyball team defeated No. 13 Baldwin Wallace 3-1 Saturday afternoon in a non-conference match at Ursprung Gymnasium.

The Tomcats improve to 4-4 with set score wins of 18-25, 25-19, 25-16 and 26-24 while the Yellow Jackets fall to 6-5.

Baldwin Wallace pulled ahead 4-0 and 10-4 in set four before a 7-0 Thiel run with Will Zimmerman (Cranberry, Pa./Seneca Valley) on the service line pushed Thiel ahead 11-10. Zimmerman had a pair of aces in the stretch. After a BW side out to even things at 11, the Blue and Gold used a 3-0 spurt capped off by an Ezra Oesterling (Shelocta, Pa./West Shamokin) kill to pull ahead 14-11. A 4-0 Thiel run broke a 15-15 deadlock to make it 19-15. Trailing 22-18, BW had a 4-0 run to tie things at 22 before a pair of side outs each pushed the set to extra points tied at 24. An Oesterling kill followed by a Yellow Jackets attacking error gave Thiel the match.

Oesterling posted a match-leading 18 kills on .229 hitting to go with a career- and match-best three aces, career-high three solo stuffs and seven digs. The high-flyer has logged at least 10 kills in all eight matches this season and has posted at least 16 kills on six occasions.

Zimmerman added nine kills, eight digs, a pair of aces and one block assist. 

Thiel jumped ahead 5-0 in set two. Bryce Lizanich (Coraopolis, Pa./Montour) and Jake Dies (Cambridge Springs, Pa./Cambridge Springs) combined for a block and Lizanich had a solo stuff in the run. BW answered with 5 straight points, but the Blue and Gold responded with a 4-0 run to make it 9-5. Leading 16-14, Thiel got back-to-back points on blocks from Eli Olszowka (Erie, Pa./Mercyhurst Prep) and Lizanich followed by a setting error to go ahead 19-14. The home side got as close as 3 (20-17) but Thiel notched 5 of the last 7 points in the set to get on the board.

Lizanich set career highs and led the match in blocks (eight) and solo blocks (four). Olszowka dished out a match-best 31 assists and dug a team-leading nine balls. Dies finished with four total blocks (1 BS, 3 BA) and dug eight balls.

Set three was back and forth early before Thiel found some space with a 3-0 spurt capped off by a Kaleb Proudfoot (Butler, Pa./Butler) kill to lead 15-12. The Tomcats went on to tally 6 of the next 8 points, a trio of which came on blocks, to lead 21-14. A pair of Dies-Lizanich combo blocks gave Thiel a set-point chance at 24-16 which they capitalized on with a Zimmerman kill to go ahead 2-1.

Proudfoot finished with six kills in the middle along with a pair of solo stuffs. 

The libero tandem of David Gonzalez (El Paso, Texas/Eastwood) and Josh Hovan (Baden, Pa./Ambridge) finished with eight and four digs, respectively.

The Blue and Gold had season bests in solo blocks (11) and total blocks (15) while tying their season high in block assists (eight). The Tomcats held the Yellow Jackets, who have played a bevy of top-15 teams, to a season-low .076 hitting percentage.   

Men's volleyball returns to action at 2 p.m. today for a non-conference tilt with Hiram.