BEAVER FALLS, Pa. –  The Geneva College women's volleyball team lost both of its matches in Saturday's home Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) tri-match with Thiel and Westminster, but in very different ways.  Geneva looked flat all match in its first match against Thiel, losing in four sets 20-25, 25-22, 14-25, 14-25.  The Golden Tornadoes then took on Westminster, who came into the match 18-1 overall, and battled to the very end, losing in five sets 20-25, 14-25, 25-21, 26-24, 14-16.  Geneva has now lost four straight matches and its overall record stands at 14-7, 6-3 in the PAC.

Geneva's recent struggles have come after the Golden Tornadoes had won eight straight matches, and they took on a Thiel squad to start the day that was headed in the opposite direction.  The Tomcats had lost 13 straight matches earlier in the season, but came into Saturday riding a four-match winning streak, and they continued their strong play against Geneva.

Geneva struggled from the beginning, and Thiel took an early lead in the first set, with the Tomcats jumping ahead 8-3.  Geneva would close to within 15-13, but another run put Thiel back up 22-15, and Thiel closed out the set from there, 25-20.

Geneva used a three-point run to take its first lead of the match early on in set two, 6-5.  The set stayed tight most of the way, though.  Thiel actually led, 21-20, late in the set, but four straight points, three on kills from freshman Hope Shook (Bellwood, Pa./Bellwood-Antis) regained control for Geneva, and the Golden Tornadoes finished off the set, 25-22.

The Golden Tornadoes scored the first two points of the third set, but not much else went well for Geneva the rest of the way.  Thiel scored four straight points, and Geneva never led again.  With Thiel leading 8-7, the Tomcats scored six straight points to go ahead 14-7, and the Golden Tornadoes never got closer than four points the rest of the set, with Thiel cruising to a 25-14 victory to take a 2-1 lead.

Geneva's struggles continued in the fourth set.  With Geneva clinging to a 7-6 lead, Thiel went on an 12-2 run over the next several minutes to take a commanding 18-9 lead, and Thiel easily closed out the match with the final four points of the set, 25-14.

Senior Kacey Costal (Salem, Ohio/Salem) led Geneva with 17 kills.  Shook added nine kills in the loss.  Junior Daphne Hunsinger (Harleysville, Pa./Christopher Dock) had another double-double with 40 assists and 14 digs, while sophomore Kayla Coughlin (Brunswick, Ohio/Brunswick) contributed a match-high 25 digs in the loss.

Geneva then had to face Westminster in its second match of the day, right after the Titans had dominated Thiel in the middle match of the tri-match, and things didn't start well for the Golden Tornadoes.  Westminster jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the first set, and the Titans still led 11-5 before Geneva showed some life with eight straight points on the service of senior Millicent Dofelmier (Mill Creek, Wash./Jackson), with Shook contributing three kills in the run.  However, Westminster bounced right back, and after the Titans scored four straight points, Westminster regained control 21-17, and the Titans finished off the set 25-20.

Westminster took control of the second set midway through.  With the Titans leading 8-6, Westminster went on an 8-1 run to take a 16-7 lead, and the Titans easily finished off the set, 25-14.

Down two sets, Geneva finally came to life.  Trailing 5-4 in the third set, Geneva scored four straight points to take an 8-5 lead.  Westminster tied the set back up at 10-10, but Hunsinger helped Geneva to a 7-1 run with two kills, putting Geneva in control 17-11.  Westminster would close to within 23-21, but back-to-back kills from Costal finished off the set, 25-21.

Westminster jumped ahead 12-8 in the fourth set, but five straight points behind the serving of senior Grace McCracken (Bloomington, Ind./Lighthouse Christian Academy) gave Geneva a 15-13 lead.  The Golden Tornadoes extended their lead to 20-15, but they had to hold off a late charge from the Titans.  After Westminster tied the score at 24-24, Dofelmier came up with back-to-back kill to finish off the set, 26-24, sending the match to a fifth set.

Geneva took an early 6-3 lead and still found itself ahead 12-10 late, but Westminster found one last run, scoring three straight points, and with the score tied at 14-14, the Titans scored the final two points to win the match, 16-14.

Costal again led the Golden Tornadoes with 14 kills, while Dofelmier added a season-high 13 kills.  Shook also contributed double-digit kills with 11.  Hunsinger had another double-double with 49 assists and 15 digs, along with seven kills.  Five Golden Tornadoes finished with double-digit digs, with Coughlin leading the way with 31.

"I couldn't have been more disappointed with the way we played against Thiel," said Head Coach Wendy Smith.  "However, I was pleased with our fight against, Westminster.  After falling behind two sets, we could have mailed it in, but I hope that maybe we found something with the rotation we used the final three sets against Westminster.  It's frustrating to drop so many home matches, but hopefully we learned some things today that will help us get out of this funk we've been in."

Geneva gets right back into action on Tuesday with a road trip to Waynesburg on Tuesday, beginning 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 115 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 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.