BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – The Geneva College women's volleyball team took care of business on Thursday night at home against Grove City, sweeping the visiting Wolverines 25-23, 25-15, 25-20.  The match was a rematch of an early meeting at Grove City, which Geneva also won in straight sets.  Geneva improved to 12-9 overall, 6-5 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC), while Grove City fell to 5-14, 5-6 in the PAC.

Geneva got off to a great start in the first set as freshman Renee Rectenwald (New Alexandria, Pa./Derry Area) served Geneva to a 5-0 lead.  However, Grove City slowly began chipping away at that lead, and after a 7-2 run, the Wolverines actually took a 21-19 lead.  At that point Geneva refocused and took back control of the set, including scoring the set's final three points, the last on a service ace from Sydney McNulty (State College, Pa./State College Area).

Grove City got off to the better start in the second set, taking a 9-6 lead.  Geneva responded, though, with an 11-2 run to go up 17-11, and the Golden Tornadoes never let Grove City back into the set.  Geneva finished the set off by scoring the final six points, the last five on the serve of Rectenwald.

Unlike in previous matches where Geneva has had trouble finishing teams off, the Golden Tornadoes made sure to finish Grove City off in the third set.  Tied at 5-5, Geneva scored seven of the next eight points to take a 12-6 lead, the last four on the serve of Recentwald.  Grove City cut the lead to as close as three, but five straight points by Geneva late in the set effectively ended any chance the Wolverines had of a comeback, and Geneva finished off the straight-set sweep.

"I was really encouraged by our play this evening, especially after our win on Tuesday," Head Coach Wendy Smith said.  "Grove City came into this match playing better than it had the last time we saw them, so this is a solid win.  We had a few mistakes midway through that first set, but we fought our way through it.  And with Bethany on Saturday, we've got to continue to play well, because they're a very good team.  We had a chance to beat them the first time we saw them, and we couldn't finish them off, so hopefully this time will be different."

Sophomore Daphne Hunsinger put forth another strong all-around effort with 20 assists, 11 digs, and 8 kills.  McNulty finished with 12 digs, 11 kills, and four aces, while freshman Kayla Coughlin added a team-high 17 digs.  Rectenwald gave the team a lift all match with her serving, finishing with three aces herself.

As Coach Smith alluded, Geneva makes the trip down to Bethany on Saturday for a 1:00 p.m. match.  It's a rematch of a game the two teams played at Grove City earlier in the year, which Geneva held a two sets to one lead in, but couldn't complete the victory.  The Bison come into this match with an 8-3 record in the PAC, one spot ahead of Geneva in the standings.


Geneva College is a Christ-centered academic community that provides a comprehensive education to equip students for faithful and fruitful service to God and neighbor. Offering over 80 traditional undergraduate majors and programs, fully online Adult Degree Programs, and high-demand graduate degrees, Geneva's programs are recognized for their high quality. U.S. News & World Report ranks Geneva as a Top Three Best Value Regional University with one of the Top 100 engineering programs in the nation. Adhering to the truth 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.