UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio – It is starting to become a trend for the Geneva College women's volleyball team, an inability to finish off close sets against good competition, and unfortunately it came back to haunt the Golden Tornadoes again on Thursday night at John Carroll University. In all three sets Geneva was tied or led late in the set, and in all three sets Geneva was unable to finish off the sets, as John Carroll completed the straight set win 25-22, 25-21, 25-23. John Carroll improved to 11-8, while Geneva fell to 10-9.
In the first set, both teams traded points early on as the score was tied at 8-8. John Carroll proceeded to go on a 9-2 run to take a commanding 17-10 lead. Yet the Golden Tornadoes responded with a run of their own, knotting the score at 20-20. At that point John Carroll scored five of the last seven points to take the first set.
The second set was a back and forth affair, as neither team led by more than three points for most of the set. Unfortunately, with the scored tied at 21-21, John Carroll scored the last four points of the set to take a two set lead.
The third set proved much the same. Neither team could mount much of a lead, yet Geneva found itself up 22-20 late in the set. Just like the first two sets, though, John Carroll finished off the set, and the match, with a 5-1 run late to seal the victory.
"This continues to be a really frustrating time for us," Head Coach
Wendy Smith said. "Once again we played well for stretches against a quality team on the road, yet once again we couldn't finish off sets. It can be really deflating to let a set slip away late, and I feel like the team is letting that snowball. This team is right there, I just feel like we need that one late, tough win to flip things for us. But we have to figure out a way to make that happen. It won't happen on its own."
Sophomore
Daphne Hunsinger (Harleysville, Pa./Christopher Dock) finished with another double-double, contributing 23 assists and 11 digs. Senior
Sydney McNulty (State College, Pa./State College Area) led the offense with 12 kills.
After four matches in six days, the Golden Tornadoes will have a bit of a break this weekend. Geneva won't return to the court until next Tuesday when it travels to take on Saint Vincent at 7:00 p.m. The Golden Tornadoes will then return home for a match against Grove City on Thursday, October 11, starting at 7:00 p.m.
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.
