MACY, NY – The Geneva College men's volleyball continued its strong start to the season on Friday night when it knocked off Suny Poly 25-20, 25-18, 24-26, 25-19. The victory moved Geneva's record to a perfect 4-0, while Suny Poly fell to 0-2.
Geneva jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first set. The Golden Tornadoes took an 11-5 lead on a kill from junior
Quinn McCracken (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver County Christian), but Suny Poly responded with a 6-1 run to close to within 12-11. However, Geneva answered with a 5-1 run behind the service of McCracken to take a 17-12 lead, and the Golden Tornadoes finished off the set, 25-20, on a McCracken ace.
The second set stayed tight early on. With the score tied at 10-10, though, McCracken helped spark a 6-1 run with three kills to go up 16-11. But Suny Poly put together five straight points to tie things back up at 16-16. However, sophomore
Dan Townsend (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver County Christian) helped the Golden Tornadoes close things out by serving four straight points to finish off the set, 25-18.
Head Coach
Curt Conser went to his bench starting the third set, and Suny Poly took advantage by racing to a 9-3 lead. Conser inserted Townsend back into the lineup, and it seemed to settle the reserves back down, and the Golden Tornadoes were able to come all the way back and tie the score at 24-24 before Suny Poly scored the final two points to take the set.
Geneva inserted its starters back into the lineup to start the fourth set, and the Golden Tornadoes took control early, going up 9-4. From there Suny Poly never got closer than three points, and sophomore
Anthony Baronio (Ambridge, Pa./Ambridge) finished off the set, and the match, with a kill.
"This was a solid start to the weekend," said Conser. "It was important to pick up a win on the first night, and it was good to get our reserves some solid playing time. We still have some things we need to clean up, and we'll need to be better tomorrow against a couple of pretty strong teams, but overall it was a solid performance, especially after a long bus ride today."
McCracken led the offense with 14 kills to go with six blocks and five digs. Baronio contributed 20 assists and seven kills. Senior
Matt Peters (Moon Township, Pa./Moon Area) added 11 assists, eight kills and five blocks.
Geneva returns to action tomorrow with two matches. The Golden Tornadoes play #16-ranked Elms College at 11:00 a.m., followed by a match with Wells College at 3:00 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.
