BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – The Geneva College men's volleyball team made quick work of visiting Hiram College on Wednesday night in Metheny Fieldhouse, sweeping the Terriers 26-24, 25-16, 25-22.  The win was Geneva's eighth in the last nine matches, and the victory moved its record to 12-3, a perfect 3-0 in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC).  Hiram fell to 3-11, 0-3 in the AMCC.

Geneva jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the first set, but the Golden Tornadoes weren't particularly crisp early on.  Struggles passing and serving enabled Hiram to go back up 7-5, and seven of Hiram's first ten points came on Geneva service or attacking errors.  The Golden Tornadoes continued to battle, though, and they used an 8-2 run midway through the set to go up 17-11, with sophomore Dan Townsend (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver County Christian) coming up with a couple kills in the run.  Geneva still led 24-21 late, but Hiram staved off three set points to tie the score, 24-24.  That's when freshman Peter Barbato (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver County Christian) finished off the set with a kill and an ace to hold on for the win.

The second set stayed close early, with the Terriers scoring two straight points to tie things at 8-8.  Geneva put together another run, though, going up 14-9, as senior Spencer York (Beaver, Pa./Beaver County Christian) had two kills in the stretch.  Geneva never let Hiram back into this set, going up 21-12 after senior Matt Peters (Moon Township, Pa./Moon Area) had back-to-back kills and an ace, and the Golden Tornadoes won easily, 25-16.

In the third set, with the score tied at 5-5, junior Quinn McCracken (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver County Christian) served Geneva to five straight points, helping Geneva take a 10-5 lead.  The Golden Tornadoes looked to be in control when they stretched their lead to 18-11, but Hiram made one last run to close to within 23-21.  Another kill from Peters and a service error by Hiram finished off the match, 25-22.

"We did what we needed to do to pick up the win," said Head Coach Curt Conser.  "I felt like Dan and Matt played well from the outside.  Our block, which we've worked on a lot in practice recently, really came through today.  But there were a lot of areas where we have to improve.  Our serving in particular was pretty poor, and our setting needs to be better, so there's plenty we need to work on."

Peters led the way with nine kills on a .500 hitting percentage, along with eight digs, six assists and one ace.  Barbato finished with eight kills and six blocks, while Townsend added seven kills while hitting .353.  McCracken had five kills, six blocks and ten digs.  Overall, the team finished with 14 blocks while hitting .281, compared to Hiram's .076 hitting percentage.  Sophomore Anthony Baronio (Ambridge, Pa./Ambridge) finished with 23 assists and eight digs.

Geneva heads to D'Youville College in Buffalo, New York, on Saturday for two AMCC matches.  The Golden Tornadoes will take on D'Youville at 10:00 a.m. before playing Medaille at 2:00 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.