LATROBE, Pa. – When it came to five-set matches, it had been a rough few weeks for the Geneva College women's volleyball team, having lost three straight since Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) play had begun. However, on Tuesday night at Saint Vincent, the Golden Tornadoes reversed that, coming from behind for a thrilling 20-25, 25-18, 23-25, 25-22, 18-16 win. The victory, which avenged a five-set loss to the Bearcats earlier this season, improved Geneva's record to 11-9 overall, 5-5 in the PAC, while Saint Vincent fell to 8-12, 4-6 in the PAC.
The first set started out evenly until Saint Vincent went on a 9-1 run, including seven straight points, to take a 19-11 lead, and Geneva was never able to get back into it, eventually dropping the set.
The Golden Tornadoes rallied in the second set. This time it was the Golden Tornadoes who used a late run to take control of and win the set, as Geneva finished on a 7-1 run to even up the match at one set apiece.
The third set ended up looking like many heartbreaking sets over the past month, as Geneva put itself in position to take a lead in the match, and failed to finish. After two straight points by the Golden Tornadoes, they found themselves up 23-19, yet Saint Vincent finished with six straight points to steal away the set.
To Geneva's credit, though, it wasn't going to let history repeat itself. Instead of allowing the momentum of that lost set to carry over, the Golden Tornadoes responded when they had to. Things didn't look good after Saint Vincent scored six straight points to take a 14-11 lead, but Geneva rallied late. Down 22-21, Geneva scored four straight points, the final being an ace from junior Bobbi Ann Theiss (East Liverpool, Ohio/Beaver Local), to send the match to a fifth set.
That set the stage for a dramatic last set that went back and forth. In fact, Geneva faced match point, down 16-15, before scoring the final three points of the match on two kills from senior
Sydney McNulty (State College, Pa./State College Area) and a service ace from sophomore
Daphne Hunsinger (Harleysville, Pa./Christopher Dock), setting off a celebration on the Geneva bench.
"To say that we needed this kind of victory is an understatement," an excited, yet relieved, Head Coach
Wendy Smith said afterwards. "This is the type of win that can really turn things around for us and give us the confidence and belief that we can win close matches. And it was important to get this win to make sure we stayed in position to qualify for postseason play. We dropped some matches earlier in the season that we let slip away, which has left us very little margin the rest of the year, so I'm really proud of the fight the team showed tonight in a match we really needed."
Hunsinger led the way again with 43 assists, 16 digs, and 8 kills. McNulty came up huge offensively with 23 kills, as well as adding 14 digs, while freshman
Kayla Coughlin (Brunswick, Ohio/Brunswick) had a team-high 35 digs.
Geneva doesn't get much time to rest as the Golden Tornadoes return home to face Grove City on Thursday night at 7:00 p.m. A win against the Wolverines would move Geneva's conference record over the .500 mark for the first time this season.
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.
