GREENVILLE, Pa. – The No. 12 Baldwin Wallace University men's volleyball team dropped a hard-fought five-set match to Thiel College by scores of 25-21, 17-25, 20-25, 25-22, and 20-22 on Maenpa Court inside Beeghly Gymnasium.
BW (12-4, 1-0 MCVL) battled back twice but ultimately fell in a tightly contested fifth set. Thiel hit .312 as a team and edged the Yellow Jackets late in the decisive frame. The final set featured 12 ties and four lead changes with neither team leading by more than two points down the stretch.
BW Leaders
- Junior right side hitter Jacob Esteves (Wickliffe/St. Edward) recorded a match-high 25 kills while adding nine digs and hitting .260
- Junior First-Team All-MCVL outside hitter Daniel Latham (Westerville/Westerville Central) tallied 19 kills and 10 digs to register a double-double while hitting .270
- Senior Second-Team All-MCVL middle hitter Colby Whiteside (Powell/Olentangy Liberty) finished with four kills on a .429 hitting percentage and added five block assists
- First-year setter Ethan Gundrum (Cincinnati/McNicholas) dished out 48 assists while contributing three service aces and seven digs
Thiel Leaders
- Ezra Oesterling led the Tomcats with 14 kills and eight digs while hitting .207
- Eli Olszowka distributed 25 assists and added two service aces
- Kaleb Proudfoot had eight total blocks at the net, two aces, and finished with nine kills
First Set (BW 25-21)
- BW led in kills 12-8
- Yellow Jackets hit .381
- Tomcats hit .130
Second Set (Thiel 25-17)
- Thiel led in kills 13-6
- Yellow Jackets hit -.048
- Tomcats hit .423
Third Set (Thiel 25-20)
- Thiel led in kills 13-10
- Yellow Jackets hit .120
- Tomcats hit .571
Fourth Set (BW 25-22)
- Thiel led in kills 15-13
- Yellow Jackets hit .423
- Tomcats hit .364
Fifth Set (Thiel 22-20)
- BW led in kills 13-7
- Yellow Jackets hit .154
- Tomcats hit .045
Up Next
- No. 12 Men's Volleyball returns home to continue MCVL play against Spalding (Ky.) on Saturday, February 28 at 7:00 p.m. inside Ursprung Gymnasium in the Lou Higgins Center.
