GREENVILLE, Pa. (Feb. 12) -- The No. 17 Thiel College Men's Volleyball team swept Bethany College 25-12, 25-18, 25-14 Thursday evening in a Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) clash on Maenpa Court at Beeghly Gymnasium.
The Tomcats extend their home winning streak to 17 matches as they improve to 10-4 (1-0) and have now won seven straight matches on the year. The Bison dip to 0-7 (0-2).
Eli Olszowka (Erie, Pa./Mercyhurst Prep) became the sixth Tomcat ever to reach 1,000 career assists with his assist at 23-14 in set three, joining teammate
Ben Lowell (Portland, Ore./Sunset) in the exclusive 1,000-assist club.
Olszowka dished out a match-best 14 assists and had two digs while Lowell had 10 helpers, a match-high six digs and an ace.
Kaleb Proudfoot (Butler, Pa./Butler) tied for the match high with six kills on .556 to go with a career-best three aces, three digs and two blocks.
Will Zimmerman (Cranberry, Pa./Seneca Valley) added six kills on .417 to go with three aces and a pair of digs.
Ezra Oesterling (Shelocta, Pa./West Shamokin) added six kills, two digs and one ace.
George Schwalm IV (Fort Collins, Colo./Poudre), the reigning PAC Newcomer of the Week, added five kills on .444 with two blocks and a dig.
Noah Leffingwell (Seattle, Wash./Bishop Blanchet) and
Rex Dugan (Covington, Wash./Tahoma) each notched two kills with the former adding a pair of blocks.
The Tomcats hit .270 and held Bethany to -.042. The Cats held a 25-15 edge in digs as libero
Brandon Gala (Pittsburgh, Pa./Upper St. Clair) dug five balls. Thiel held edges in aces (9-3) and blocks (4-2).
No. 17 Thiel is back in action Saturday for non-conference matches against Trine (1 p.m.) and RV Endicott (3 p.m.) at the Nazareth Invitational.
