PITTSBURGH (March 19) -- The Thiel College Men's Volleyball team bested Chatham University in a five-set thriller for their eighth consecutive win to tie the program record winning streak Wednesday evening at the Athletic and Fitness Center in Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) action.

The Tomcats improve to 15-6 and are now off to their best start to conference play in program history at 8-0 with set score wins of 22-25, 25-23, 25-23, 22-25 and 15-5. The Cougars drop to 5-11 (2-6).

Thiel jumped to a 4-0 set-five lead as Tyler Hussey (Irwin, Pa./Norwin), who saw his first action of the night in set five, tallied a pair of kills. Chatham got within 5-2 before a 4-0 Thiel run kick started by a Kaleb Proudfoot (Butler, Pa./Butler) kill made it 9-2. The Tomcats rolled past the Cougars the rest of the way, outscoring the home side 6-2 to take the set 15-5 and clinch the match.

Proudfoot logged a team-best-tying 16 kills on a match-best .538 (min. 10 attempts). He blocked four balls and had three digs. Hussey went a perfect 3-for-3 swinging in set five.  

Thiel pulled ahead 9-4 in set three before Chatham used a 7-2 spurt to even things at 11. Kills by Ezra Oesterling (Shelocta, Pa./West Shamokin) made it 19-17 and 21-19, respectively. Oesterling added an ace to make it 23-20 Thiel while JC Govannucci (North Huntington, Pa./Norwin) and Proudfoot got Thiel points 24 and 25, respectively, to put the Tomcats up 2-1.

Oesterling notched a team-best-tying 16 kills to go with nine digs and a pair of block assists. Govannucci added four kills, three digs and two block assists.

A Will Zimmerman (Cranberry, Pa./Seneca Valley) kill made it 15-12 Thiel in set two. Chatham logged 6-of-7 points to turn an 18-15 deficit into a 21-19 advantage. A 4-0 Thiel run that saw a pair of Zimmerman kills and a Govannucci-Bryce-Lizanich block gave the Blue and Gold a 23-20 lead. A Zimmerman kill gave the Tomcats the set and evened the match at one.

Zimmerman totaled a team-high-tying 16 kills to eclipse 400 kills for his career. He added nine digs and one block in the victory. Lizanich walloped nine kills, dug a career-best 10 balls and blocked a match-best five balls (1 BS, 4 BA). 

Chatham held the momentum in set one and went ahead early. The Tomcats fought back and got within 1 at 21-22 and 22-23 but ultimately fell short in the opening frame. Set four had nine ties and a pair of lead changes as the home side used a 6-2 stretch to lead 22-20. The Cougars etched 3 of the final 5 points to even the match at two and force a deciding frame.

Defensively, the Tomcats held a slight edge in digs 78-77 and held Chatham to .182 hitting. Josh Pugh (Wexford, Pa./Pine Richland) dug a season-best 10 balls while Josh Hovan (Baden, Pa./Ambridge) dug 11 for his second consecutive double-digit dig match. David Gonzalez (El Paso, Texas/Eastwood) added nine digs.

Eli Olszowka (Erie, Pa./Mercyhurst Prep) dished out 39 assists and had eight digs. Ben Lowell (Portland, Ore./Sunset) logged 20 helpers and six digs as Thiel hit .259.

Men's Volleyball will attempt to set the program record for consecutive wins Friday against PAC basement dwellers Bethany College at 6 p.m.