BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – The Geneva College women's volleyball team came into Wednesday night's Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) matchup with Bethany College undefeated in the conference, but the Golden Tornadoes' perfect record came to an end against the visiting Bison, with Geneva falling 3-1 (24-26, 17-25, 25-12, 21-25).  Geneva has now lost two straight matches and fell to 14-5 overall, 6-1 in the PAC, while Bethany improved to 9-12 overall, 4-2 in the PAC.

The first set started well enough for Geneva, with the Golden Tornadoes jumping out to an 8-3 lead.  Bethany slowly began to chip away at the lead, closing to within one point, 14-13.  Geneva still maintained that lead at 20-19 before three straight Bison points gave Bethany its first lead.  Geneva battled off two set points later in the set, but Bethany scored the last two points to give the Bison a 26-24 win.

Bethany took control of set two early on.  With the Bison leading 7-6, Bethany scored six straight points to take a 13-6 lead.  Geneva battled back to within 16-13 behind a couple of kills by both senior Kacey Costal (Salem, Ohio/Salem) and junior Daphne Hunsinger (Harleysville, Pa./Christopher Dock), but Geneva could not get any closer in dropping the second set, 25-17.

The only good set for the Golden Tornadoes proved to be the third set.  Hunsinger picked up three early kills in the set to help Geneva to an 8-3 lead.  The Golden Tornadoes took full control of the set midway through with a 7-1 run to go ahead 19-7, as freshman Maggie Townsend (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver County Christian) picked up two kills in the stretch, and Geneva easily closed out the set, 25-12.

Any hope that the big Geneva win in set three would carry into set four ended quickly.  Bethany immediately jumped ahead 6-1 before stretching its lead to 10-3.  To Geneva's credit, it used a 9-2 run to battle all the way back and tie the set at 12-12, but the Golden Tornadoes never managed to take the lead.  Bethany responded with a run to take back the lead, 21-16, and the Bison eventually closed out the match, 25-21.

"This was a really disappointing performance for our team," said Head Coach Wendy Smith.  "Give credit to Bethany.  They were the better team tonight.  For whatever reason, we continue to struggle at home.  We've played pretty well on the road and have put ourselves in good position to challenge for a conference title, but we have to figure out a way to sustain that play at home.  We still have a lot of season left, but this was a very frustrating night.  With an improved Thiel team and Westminster coming in on Saturday, we'll have to play a lot better if we expect to win."

Costal led the offense with 12 kills on the night.  Hunsinger finished with 33 assists, 17 digs and 7 kills.  Freshman Olivia Moore (North Canton, Ohio/Lake Center Christian) contributed eight kills, while Townsend finished with seven kills and 14 digs.  Sophomore Kayla Coughlin (Brunswick, Ohio/Brunswick) added 17 digs.

Geneva's continues PAC play on Saturday when it hosts Thiel and Westminster for a tri-match beginning at 11:00 a.m.  Westminster, the preseason PAC favorite, will come into that match with an impressive 17-1 record, 7-0 in the PAC.


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.