Men's Volleyball | 4/9/2026 11:40:00 PM
TRAFFORD, Pa. (pacathletics.org) - Top-seeded Thiel College cruised to a sweep on their home floor, while third-seeded Chatham University went on the road to pull out a win Thursday night in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Men's Volleyball Tournament semifinals.
Defending champion Thiel (22-8) earned a chance to repeat by sweeping No. 5 Hiram College, 25-18, 25-11, 25-8, while Chatham (16-8) punched their ticket to the title game with a 3-1 victory at second-seeded Saint Vincent College, 25-23, 25-21, 19-25, 25-17.
That sets up the PAC Tournament Championship Game for Saturday night, which Thiel will host in Greenville, Pa., against Chatham. First serve goes up at 6 pm and the game will be on a free-to-view stream by the PAC Sports Network.
PAC Semifinal 1 - Greenville, Pa.
No. 1 Thiel 3, No. 5 Hiram 0
Thiel won the first set 25-18, hitting .524 with 12 kills and one error on 21 attempts. Hiram led 5-4 before Thiel separated with a 9-2 run to build a 14-7 advantage and their lead was never smaller than five the rest of the way. Sophomore Ezra Oesterling (Shelocta, Pa./West Shamokin) played a big role in the opening set with one ace and five kills.
The Tomcats extended the lead with a 25-11 win in set two, recording 18 kills and hitting .615. Hiram again led early at 5-3, but three Oesterling aces and a trio of kills from junior Bryce Lizanich (Coraopolis, Pa/Montour) highlighted a 7-0 spurt by Thiel and the Tomcats continued pulling away to take the 2-0 lead. Thiel's big hitting night continued in the third set, as they completed the sweep with a 25-8 win while hitting .583 as a team. Senior Will Zimmerman (Cranberry, Pa/Seneca Valley) had three aces, three kills and an assisted block in the clinching set.
For Thiel, Oesterling led with nine kills and six service aces, while Lizanich added eight kills on 11 attempts (.636 hitting percentage) and Zimmerman recorded seven kills and three aces. Senior Kaleb Proudfoot (Butler, Pa./Butler) hit .750 with six kills on eight attempts with no errors. Junior Ben Lowell (Portland, Ore./Sunset) and junior Eli Olszowka (Erie, Pa./Mercyhurst Prep) combined for 29 assists, as the team set a new single-match program record by hitting .576 overall and also served 12 aces.
Hiram (9-14) was led by senior Colin Brooks (Powell, Ohio/Olentangy Liberty) with six kills on 11 attempts (.455) and junior Dakotah Welsh (Stow, Ohio/Bio-Med Science Academy) recorded four kills and seven digs. Freshman Kekoa Tani (Kaneohe, Hawaii/Castle) finished with 12 assists and two aces.
PAC Semifinal 2 - Latrobe, Pa.
No. 3 Chatham 3, No. 2 Saint Vincent 1
Chatham won the first two sets 25-23 and 25-21 to take a 2-0 lead. In set one, Chatham recorded 12 kills, five each by junior Ben Shelestak (Pittsburgh, Pa./Fox Chapel) and junior Tim McCabe (North Huntingdon, Pa./Norwin), with Shelestak putting away the final point. In set two, the Cougars improved to 16 kills and a .270 hitting percentage, with Shelestak (five kills) McCabe (four) and freshman Derek Paul (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) (three) sparking the attack.
Saint Vincent stayed alive by winning the third set 25-19, recording 14 kills and a .353 hitting percentage. Senior Zebadiah Wyant (Martinsburg, Pa./Central) led the offense in the set with five kills, while Chatham hurt their cause with nine attack errors and two service errors.
Chatham recovered from the third set to hit .353 in the fourth and close the match with a 25-17 win. Paul spearheaded the offense with six kills in the set, including the final point that sent the Cougars to the PAC Championship game for the first time in just their third year as a varsity program.
Chatham was led by Shelestak with 20 kills and 13 digs, one of three Cougars with a double-double. McCabe added 18 kills, and Paul recorded 12 kills with a .357 hitting percentage and 10 digs. Sophomore RJ Nagg (Erie, Pa./McDowell) totaled 46 assists and 10 digs as the team recorded 58 kills. Also aiding in the defensive efforts was sophomore John Gasiorowski (Pittsburgh, Pa./Bethel Park), who matched Shelestak for team-high with 13 digs.
Saint Vincent (14-5) was led by senior Shawn McSwiggen (Pittsburgh, Pa./Thomas Jefferson) with 14 kills and Wyant with 11 kills and two service aces. Freshman setter Jack Ryan (Pittsburgh, Pa./Pittsburgh Central Catholic) notched a double-double with 38 assists and 10 digs.
Championship Preview
Thiel won both meetings with Chatham in the regular season by identical 3-1 scores in Pittsburgh on Feb. 28th and in the rematch in Greenville on March 25th. Proudfoot, Lizanich and Oesterling all had 10 kills in the first win for the Tomcats. In the second meeting, Thiel hit .298 for the match with Oesterling posting 13 kills and seven aces in the victory. McCabe highlighted Chatham's efforts with 17 kills in both games.
Thiel carries a seven-game winning streak into the final and has won 10 of their last 11. The Tomcats have not lost a set in the PAC Tournament in the last two years, sweeping Saint Vincent and Grove City in winning the inaugural PAC crown last spring before their 3-0 win Thursday over Hiram.
After winning a combined 13 matches in their first two years as a program, Chatham is 16-8 this season and winners of four straight and six of their last seven.