GREENVILLE, Pa. (March 21) -- The Thiel College Men's Volleyball collected there ninth straight victory to set a new program winning streak record Friday evening with a Senior-Night sweep of last place, Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC)-winless Bethany College on Maenpa Court at Beeghly Gymnasium.

The Tomcats improve to 16-6 overall, 9-0 in PAC play and have now won nine consecutive home matches dating back to last season with set score wins of 25-16, 25-11 and 25-23. The Bison drop to 2-17 (0-7) and are now 2-44 over the past two seasons.

Thiel jumped to a commanding 14-6 lead in set one on a Bryce Lizanich (Coraopolis, Pa./Montour) kill. Bethany got within 5 at 18-13, but Thiel answered with a 4-0 run capped with a Noah Leffingwell (Seattle, Wash./Bishop Blanchet) kill to lead 22-13. The Tomcats ended the frame with a 3-0 run to go ahead 1-0. Thile limited Bethany to -.107 attacking in the opening frame.

Lizanich posted a match-best 10 kills on a career-best .833 (min. 10 swings) from the middle to go with five blocks (1 BS, 4 BA) and four digs. Leffingwell added a kill and a dig in reserve.

The Blue and Gold capped a 3-0 run in set two with back-to-back combo blocks from Lizanich and Ethan Cooper (Venetia, Pa./Peters Township) to go ahead 13-6. After a Bison side out, Thiel added 3 more points, the last of which came on a Cooper ace to lead 16-7. A JC Govannucci (North Huntington, Pa./Norwin) kill made it 18-8 while a kill from Rex Dugan (Covington, Wash./Tahoma) pushed the lead to 23-11. Connor McInnis (Southington, Conn./Southington) whipped up an ace to end the set and put the home side up 2-0. Thiel held Bethany to -.103 hitting in the set.

Cooper dished out a match- and season-best 32 assists, dug four balls, had three block assists and added one ace. Govannucci contributed four kills and a block assist while Dugan finished with one kill. McInnis tallied three kills from the left pin, dug four balls and served one ace.

Set three had 17 ties and one lead change as neither side built a lead greater than 3 in the frame. Eight consecutive side outs evened the set at 23, but the Blue and Gold logged the final 2 points on a Lizanich kill and an Ezra Oesterling (Shelocta, Pa./West Shamokin) ace, his 30th of the season, to complete the record-setting sweep.

Oesterling contributed nine kills in the victory to go with a pair of digs and an ace. Will Zimmerman (Cranberry, Pa./Seneca Valley) added four kills on .500 hitting along with four digs and a trio of block assists. Kaleb Proudfoot (Butler, Pa./Butler) pitched in three kills, five digs and four block assists. In his backrow-limited return from injury, Jake Dies (Cambridge Springs, Pa./Cambridge Springs) had one assist and dig each. 

The Blue and Gold won the defensive battle with 37 digs, nine of which came from David Gonzalez (El Paso, Texas/Eastwood) and three from Brandon Gala (Pittsburgh, Pa./Upper St. Clair), to Bethany's 25. Thiel had nine total blocks (1 BS, 16 BA) to Bethany's four (2 BS, 4 BA). The home side hit .303 and held the visitors to a measly .047.

Men's Volleyball will go for there 10th straight win Sunday in a 2 p.m. non-conference battle with Buffalo State. The Bengals are the last team to top the Tomcats as they did so on Feb. 15.