BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – The Geneva College women's volleyball came into its home match with Grove City on Tuesday night riding a three-match winning streak, and the Golden Tornadoes extended that streak to four with a 3-1 (25-21, 16-25, 25-21, 25-12) victory over the Wolverines.  Geneva improved to 18-7 overall, 10-3 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC), while Grove City fell to 16-7, 6-6 in the PAC.

Geneva jumped out to an early 9-4 lead in the first set, as freshman Hope Shook (Bellwood, Pa./Bellwood-Antis) picked up two early kills.  Grove City responded with a 5-1 run, though, to close the deficit to 10-9.  The Wolverines then took their first lead of the set, 19-18, and still held a 21-20 lead late in the set before Geneva scored the final five points of the set, with Shook picking up two more kills in the stretch, including the final one, to win 25-21.

The second set was tight early, with another kill from Shook evening the score at 8-8.  However, Grove City took control of the set with a 10-2 run, including seven straight points in one stretch.  The Golden Tornadoes never recovered, dropping the second set, 25-16.

Grove City carried that momentum into set three, taking an early 7-3 lead.  However, nine straight points behind the serving of senior Grace McCracken (Bloomington, Ind./Lighthouse Christian Academy) gave Geneva a 12-7 lead, with senior Millicent Dofelmier (Mill Creek, Wash./Jackson) picking up three kills in the run.  Geneva's lead grew to 24-16 before the Golden Tornadoes had to fight off a late Wolverine run, finally closing out the set, 25-21.

Geneva took control of the fourth set early.  Leading 5-3, McCracken served Geneva to six straight points to take a commanding 11-3 lead.  The Golden Tornadoes stretched their lead to as big as 16-5, and Geneva cruised from there, with senior Kacey Costal (Salem, Ohio/Salem) closing out the match, 25-12, with a kill.

"It's always good to win," said Head Coach Wendy Smith, "but honestly, we were a little shaky at times tonight.  We were probably a little fortunate to win the first set, and the second set was really poor.  But we rebounded with two pretty good sets to finish off the match.  A match like tonight is a good reminder that we still have improvements to make.  We have a stretch of matches at home coming up before finishing the year at Westminster, so it's important we take advantage of these home matches and finish well."

Junior Daphne Hunsinger (Harleysville, Pa./Christopher Dock) picked up her sixth triple-double of the season with 32 assists, 14 digs and 10 kills.  Shook also contributed 10 kills in the win.  Sophomore Kayla Coughlin (Brunswick, Ohio/Brunswick) and freshman Maggie Townsend (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver County Christian) led the defense with 19 digs apiece, while freshman Alyssa Hunsinger (Oley, Pa./High Point Baptist Academy) finished with a career-high 15 digs.  Coughlin surpassed 1,000 career digs with her total tonight.

Geneva steps out of conference play on Saturday with a home match against Oberlin beginning at 1:00 p.m.  The Golden Tornadoes then close out the regular season with three PAC matches next week.


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.