GREENVILLE, Pa. (April 10) -- The Thiel College Men's Volleyball team advanced to the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Championship with a 25-19, 25-20, 25-18 sweep of No. 5 Saint Vincent College Thursday evening on Maenpa Court at Beeghly Gymnasium in front of a sellout crowd. Thiel will take on No. 2 Grove City College in the PAC Championship match Saturday on Maenpa Court at 7 p.m.

With the win, the Tomcats set a new program record for wins in a season by improving to 21-6 and push their program-record winning streak to 14 matches. The Bearcats conclude their season 11-13.

Thiel used a 6-0 run capped with a Bryce Lizanich (Coraopolis, Pa./Montour), Will Zimmerman (Cranberry, Pa./Seneca Valley) combo block to to lead 8-4 in the opening set. A Jake Dies (Cambridge Springs, Pa./Cambridge Springs) kill pushed the lead to 17-12. The Bearcats got within 4 at 21-17, but a 3-0 run capped with an Ezra Oesterling (Shelocta, Pa./West Shamokin) kill gave Thiel seven set-point chances. A service error ended the frame and put the Tomcats up 1-0.

The Blue and Gold posted a season-best 16 blocks (7 BS, 18 BA) in the victory. Dies notched a team-high-tying 10 kills on .500 hitting and blocked five balls (1 BS, 4 BA). Oesterling tied Dies for the team lead with 10 kills to push his season total to 391. He added 10 digs for his sixth double-double of the season to go with one ace and block each.

Saint Vincent inched ahead 12-9 in set two, but Thiel notched 6 of the next 8 points to lead 15-14. The visitors led 19-18 after six consecutive combined side outs before a 4-0 Thiel spurt that featured two Dies-Lizanich combo blocks and a Zimmerman solo stuff put Thiel up 22-19. A service error brought it to 22-20, but Thiel tallied the next 3 points to go up 2-0.

Lizanich totaled five kills and blocks (1 BS, 4 BA) each while Zimmerman clubbed seven kills, had four blocks (2 BS, 2 BA) and dug five balls. 

Knotted at 13 in set three, Thiel used a 6-1 run capped with a Kaleb Proudfoot (Butler, Pa./Butler), Dies stuff block to climb ahead 19-14. Kills by Proudfoot and Oesterling grew the Blue-and-Gold lead to 21-15. The Bearcats got within 4 at 21-17, but a 3-0 run that started with a Proudfoot kill and ended with a Proudfoot, Ben Lowell (Portland, Ore./Sunset) block have Thiel seven match points. An Oesterling kill punched Thiel's ticket to the championship.

Proudfoot logged seven kills on .375 hitting and blocked a team-pacing seven balls (2 BS, 5 BA). Lowell dished out a match-best 36 assists, had three block assists and dug five balls. 

The Tomcats held Saint Vincent to .029 hitting, its second lowest hitting percentage of the season. The Blue and Gold held the edge in digs at 44-41 as Josh Hovan (Baden, Pa./Ambridge) posted a match-best 12 digs and David Gonzalez (El Paso, Texas/Eastwood) added five. Gonzalez also logged a kill from the libero spot.

Men's Volleyball will host No. 2 Grove City College Saturday night at 7 for the PAC Championship. The winner will earn the PAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Saturday's match will be streamed by the PAC Sports Network. Ticket information can be found here.