Geneva Opens PAC Play with Dramatic Five-Set Win over W & J
Beaver Falls, PA – If Wednesday night's five-set victory over Washington & Jefferson is any indication on how the PAC schedule will play out for Geneva in 2017, it should be a wild ride for the Golden Tornadoes. Down two sets to one, Geneva rallied to win the final two sets in a 3-2 (26-24, 23-25, 22-25, 25-22, 15-7) victory to open up conference play. Geneva improved to 2-3 overall while W & J fell to 1-3 overall and 0-1 in the conference.
W & J led for the most of the first set before Alexis Jordan threw down a kill to close the gap to 14-13 that sparked a Geneva comeback.
Kacey Costal followed with a kill of her own to tie the set at 14. It wasn't until
Erica Hughes threw down a set clinching kill that ended the first set that the Golden Tornadoes could exhale.
Despite falling in a close first set, the Presidents responded with victories in sets two and three to come within one set of winning the match. Geneva again responded well with a 25-22 win in set four that ended on a Jordan kill. In the fifth and deciding set, Geneva reeled off four consecutive points early on spurred on by kills from Sydney McNulty and Hughes. Geneva ended the match going away with a decisive fifth set victory. "This victory speaks volumes of the character of our kids," said head coach
Wendy Smith. "Being down 2-1 in our first conference match of the year and to respond the way they did really made me proud of the effort. Of course we would like to not have been down 2-1 in the first place, but the effort to come back and win is something we can build on moving forward."
Hughes led Geneva's offensive attack with 24 kills while McNulty followed closely with 20.
Daphne Hunsinger quarterbacked the offense with 44 assists to lead the way. On the defensive end of things,
McKenna Shick picked up 34 digs while Hughes and Jordan finished with 24 apiece.
Geneva will step back out of conference play this weekend when they travel to Kenyon College for a weekend tournament with four matches slated for Friday and Saturday against host Kenyon, Muskingum, Dennison and Otterbein. Geneva returns home next Tuesday for a non-conference match against Hiram at 7 pm.
Geneva College invites students to step forward and leap ahead with an academically excellent, Christ-centered and affordable education. Offering nearly 40 undergraduate majors, Adult Degree Programs with fully online and campus-based options, and high-demand advanced graduate degrees, Geneva's programs are recognized for their high quality. U.S. News & World Report ranks Geneva as a Top 10 Best Value with one of the Top 100 engineering programs in the nation. Adhering to the inerrancy of Scripture, a Geneva education is grounded in God's word as well as in a core curriculum designed to prepare students vocationally to think, write and communicate well in today's world.
