LEXINGTON, Va. (April 17) -- The Thiel College Men's Volleyball teams season came to an end Thursday in the NCAA Division III Championship Play-In round to Saint Joseph's-Long Island at Holekamp Gymnasium on the campus of Washington and Lee. 

The Tomcats conclude the season with a program-record 22 wins and a 22-7 record. Thiel had won a program-best 15 straight matches until tonight. The Blue and Gold were the inaugural Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) champions en route to the programs first NCAA Tournament appearance. Thiel also claimed the PAC regular season title.

The Golden Eagles took the match 3-1 with set scores of 25-23, 17-25, 25-20 and 25-21 to advance to the First Round for a matchup with Southern Virginia.

Thiel opened set two with a 5-0 run to force a Saint Joseph's-Long Island timeout. A 5-0 run started by an Ezra Oesterling (Shelocta, Pa./West Shamokin) kill and ace pushed Thiel's lead to 17-9. The Golden Eagles answered with 3 straight before a 3-1 Thiel run with all 3 points coming on Tyler Hussey (Irwin, Pa./Norwin) kills grew the lead to 19-12. The Tomcats logged 3 of the final 4 points, the last of which came on an Oesterling kill, to even the match at 1. The Tomcats never trailed in the set.

Oesterling posted a match-leading 18 kills to go with a contest-leading 12 digs for his seventh double-double of the season. Oesterling concludes the season with 425 kills, the second most in a season in team history and the most ever by a freshman in program history. He added a team-high-tying four blocks and two aces to run his season total to a program-best 46.

Hussey logged a season-best 13 kills in the defeat.

Set one had 15 ties and five lead changes. A kill from Will Zimmerman (Cranberry, Pa./Seneca Valley) along with a block from Jake Dies (Cambridge Springs, Pa./Cambridge Springs) evened the set at 15. A service error knotted the set at 20 before a 3-0 Golden Eagles run opened a 23-20 lead. Saint Joseph's-Long Isalnd had three set-point tries but Thiel fought off two before dropping the set.

Dies tallied eight kills, five digs and three blocks from the middle. Zimmerman totaled 10 kills on .333 and dug seven balls. 

The Golden Eagles pulled ahead 17-11 in set three, before Thiel tallied 5 of the next 6 points to get within 2 at 18-16. Kills by Bryce Lizanich (Coraopolis, Pa./Montour) made it 20-17 and 21-18 before the Golden Eagle slogged back-to-back points to lead 23-18. Saint Joseph's-Long Island eventually took the set 25-20 to lead 2-1.

Lizanich posted nine kills on .538 and tallied four blocks (1 BS, 3 BA) along with four digs. 

An Oesterling kill gave Thiel an 11-9 lead before the Golden Eagles went on a 4-0 run to lead 13-11. A Zimmerman kill got Thiel within 1 at 13-14 before Saint Joseph's-Long Island logged 5 of the next 7 points to lead 19-15. Thiel made a push and got within 2 at 22-20. The Golden Eagles ended the match on a 3-1 run to advance to the first round.

Thiel was without star middle Kaleb Proudfoot (Butler, Pa./Butler) as a knee injury kept him sidelined. 

Thiel hit .250 and held Saint Joseph's-Long Island to .193, but the Blue and Gold missed 20 serves to the Golden Eagles' seven. The Tomcats totaled 8.5 blocks to the Golden Eagles' 11. 

Thiel held the edge in digs 48-40 as David Gonzalez (El Paso, Texas/Eastwood), in his final collegiate match, had seven, Josh Pugh (Wexford, Pa./Pine Richland) had six and Josh Hovan (Baden, Pa./Ambridge) dug four.

Ben Lowell (Portland, Ore./Sunset) dished out a match-leading 40 assists and had a pair of digs and aces each. Eli Olszowka (Erie, Pa./Mercyhurst Prep) contributed 15 assists and had a pair of block assists.