BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – It had been a while since the Geneva College women's volleyball team had a performance like it did on Wednesday night, and Saint Vincent made the Golden Tornadoes pay with a sweep (25-16, 27-25, 25-22) against Geneva.  In fact, this was the first time the Golden Tornadoes had been swept all season, and it came on a night when Geneva recognized its three seniors, Kacey Costal (Salem, Ohio/Salem), Millicent Dofelmier (Mill Creek, Wash./Jackson) and Grace McCracken (Bloomington, Ind./Lighthouse Christian Academy) before the match.  The loss broke a six-match winning streak for the Golden Tornadoes and dropped their record to 20-8 overall, 11-4 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC), while Saint Vincent improved to 14-17, 9-6 in the PAC.

The first set was tight early, with Geneva clinging to a 12-11 lead.  Things quickly got away from the Golden Tornadoes, though.  Saint Vincent went on an 11-2 run to take a commanding 22-14 lead, and the Bearcats cruised from there to a 25-16 win.

The final two sets proved more competitive.  Neither team led in set two by more than two points until Geneva scored three straight to take an 11-8 lead.  The Golden Tornadoes extended their lead to 16-10 minutes later and appeared to be in full control of the set, but Geneva's inconsistent play continued to be a problem.  After Saint Vincent went on a 6-1 run later in the set, the Bearcats regained the lead, 21-20.  Still, the Golden Tornadoes managed to earn two set points, the last coming at 25-24, but Saint Vincent scored the final three points to win 27-25.

Geneva jumped ahead early in set three, 6-2, but once again the Golden Tornadoes failed to maintain their play.  Four straight points by the Bearcats tied the score at 8-8, and just a few minutes later, four more points by Saint Vincent gave the Bearcats a 15-12 lead.  Geneva looked to have righted the ship with five straight points to retake the lead, 18-16, and the Golden Tornadoes still led 20-18, but Saint Vincent scored the next four points and Geneva could not recover in losing the final set, 25-22.

"This was a very concerning performance," said Head Coach Wendy Smith.  "To know that this late in the season we can play so poorly is a wake-up call for all of us.  With Westminster on Saturday and then the playoffs starting next week, all our remaining matches are going to be against good competition.  I give credit to Saint Vincent who played well, but that was about as poorly as we've played all year.  We need to regroup quickly and get tonight out of our system so that one bad match doesn't become two."

Junior Daphne Hunsinger (Harleysville, Pa./Christopher Dock) was solid again for the Golden Tornadoes, finishing with 20 assists, 16 digs and five kills.  Unfortunately, none of Geneva's hitters played particularly well, with three players tying for the team-high with six kills.  Geneva's team hitting percentage was just .096, compared to .279 for the Bearcats.  Sophomore Kayla Coughlin (Brunswick, Ohio/Brunswick) had a team-high 19 digs.

Geneva finishes its regular season with a match at Westminster on Saturday, starting at 6:00 p.m.  With the Geneva loss, the Titans clinched the #1 seed in the PAC playoffs.  If the Golden Tornadoes can manage to regroup and win at Westminster, they still stand a good chance of getting the #2 seed, which would give them a bye into the semifinals and a home match on Thursday.  If Geneva loses, it likely falls to the #3 seed which would mean it has to start its playoffs in the quarterfinals with a home match on Tuesday.


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.