LATROBE, Pa. – Third-seeded Chatham Men's Volleyball (16-8, 8-4 PAC) reached their first PAC Championship match in just their second season in the conference by defeating #2 Saint Vincent (13-5, 9-2) on Thursday night in the PAC Semifinal at the Carey Center 3-1 (25-23, 25-21, 19-25, 25-17).
Ben Shelestak recorded a double-double with a season-high 20 kills, 13 digs and 2 blocks to lead the Cougars.
Tim McCabe tallied 18 kills and 9 digs.
Derek Paul hit .357 on the match, contributing 12 kills, 10 digs and 2 blocks.
RJ Nagg dished out 46 assists and had 10 digs.
John Gasiorowski anchored the Chatham defense with 13 digs.
The Cougars put the pressure on the Bearcats early in the match.
Evan Barrick's ace followed by Shelestak's kill gave Chatham an 8-3 lead in the opening set. Saint Vincent cut their deficit to 13-12, but a 6-1 Cougars' run with the help of three McCabe kills put Chatham ahead 19-13. The Bearcats again crawled back to make it a one-point deficit at 23-22, but a service error and Shelestak kill gave the Cougars a 1-0 match lead. Chatham would get two more Shelestak kills as well as two kills from Paul and George to go up 14-8 in set two.
Jordan Haas and Shelestak combined for three consecutive kills later in the set, giving the Cougars a 20-15 advantage.
Tim McCabe proceeded to record three kills in the remainder of the set, including the set point that gave Chatham a 2-0 match advantage.
With its backs against the wall, Saint Vincent went up 7-1 in set three. The closest the Cougars would get was an 11-7 deficit, as the Bearcats stayed alive with a 6-point set victory. Chatham would not let the Bearcats ride any momentum into set four, however, as back-to-back Paul kills put the Cougars up 6-3. Then, the PAC leader in kills in McCabe registered four kills in 10 points, followed by two Paul kills and a Haas kill that gave Chatham a 21-14 lead. With 7 match points in hand, a big swing by Paul would bound off the Saint Vincent block and send the Cougars to the Championship.
Chatham had a .205 hitting percentage in the match to the Bearcats' .204. The Cougars held a 63-47 edge in digs and a 58-47 advantage in kills.
The PAC Men's Volleyball Championship match will be held at top-seeded Thiel's Beeghly Gymnasium on Saturday at 6 p.m.
