Conference Showdown in Metheny
Beaver Falls, PA – The top three volleyball teams in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) competition proved their strength in a showdown of powerhouses on Saturday morning (September 30) in Metheny Fieldhouse. The Geneva College Golden Tornadoes hosted the Bethany College Bison and the Thomas More Saints. The GTs dropped their first match of the day 3-2 (14-25, 25-21, 25-23, 18-25, 13-15) to the Bethany College Bison. In Geneva's second match, the hosts dropped a 3-0 decision (26-24, 25-13, 25-12) to the number one ranked Thomas More College Saints. The double loss brings their record to 6-14 overall, 5-2 in conference play.
"It is always a tough game whenever we play Bethany or Thomas More," commented head coach
Wendy Smith. "It was exciting to see us take Bethany to five sets but also frustrating that we couldn't pull the win."
Bethany took set one (25-14) without much resistance as the Golden Tornadoes struggled to get their offense in motion. The squad was forced to adjust to a new line-up as
Kacey Costal was sidelined due to injury. Costal has taken up most of the responsibilities for the Golden Tornadoes this season in the middle block position.
In the second set, Geneva got their first lead of the match when
Erika Hughes finished a drive down the line for the 2-1 score. After trading points, Hughes delivered another strike into center court to draw the 5-3 lead. While maintaining the lead throughout much of the set, the Bison were able to tie the game at 19. Not to be denied,
Alyssa Kerr worked the line and secured two aces to give the Golden Tornadoes set two and the equalizer (25-21).
Bethany led the whole third set until Kerr hit a cross court kill to tie the set at 16. She then turned around and served an ace to give Geneva the first lead of the set. With that momentum, Geneva took its first match lead by winning set three (25-23). The excitement did not last as Bethany dominated early action of set four allowing the visitors a 25-18 victory.
Sydney McNulty tore through two blocks to tie the set five at 13, but it was not enough to overtake the visitors. Despite fighting through two long points, the Golden Tornadoes dropped set five (15-13). The Bison won the battle at the net with 9-3 blocks in the match while Geneva won the service line contest 10-7.
The Bison turned right around to play Thomas More in the second match of the tri-match. In the match, the Saints' proved their number one seating by defeating the Bison 3-0 in four sets before the hosts returned to the court.
In the final match of the day, Geneva led the Saints early in set one by as much as 18-10. Their early lead was eliminated when the Saints took the lead over at 22-21. After exchanging the lead four more times, Thomas More took set one with an ace (26-24).
The Saints came out in set two on the momentum they had built up from the first set to take the early lead which allowed them to cruise to a 25-13 lead. The final set of the tri-match was more of the same as the Saints remained perfect on the day with a 25-12 victory over the Golden Tornadoes.
"Thomas More is always good competition for us," said Smith. "Exciting to see us really challenge them in the first set, but clearly we have some work to do before we get to tournament action with these two."
Geneva has two more tri-matches this week. On Wednesday (Oct. 4) they will host Franciscan and Chatham at 4:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. respectively. Saturday, October 7 is homecoming on College Hill. Women's volleyball will host Waynesburg University and Westminster College at 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.
