BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – A day after the Geneva College men's volleyball team defeated Wittenberg University with a strong hitting game, the Golden Tornadoes used a different recipe to beat Messiah College in four sets on Saturday afternoon, 25-16, 25-21, 21-25, 25-19.  Geneva played a strong blocking game up front that enabled the Golden Tornadoes to win their fifth straight match.  Geneva improved to 9-2, while Messiah fell to 2-4.

For many of the Golden Tornadoes, they were facing a familiar foe in Matt Knab across the net, a Beaver County Christian School graduate who played in high school with multiple Geneva starters.  Knab came into the match as Messiah's leading hitter, and the Falcons fed Knab early and often, but Geneva's defense proved up for the challenge.  The Golden Tornadoes jumped ahead 6-1 in the first set and never looked back in the 25-16 win, though 18 of those points came on Messiah hitting errors.

Messiah went up 8-5 early in set two, but four straight points behind the serving of junior Quinn McCracken (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver County Christian) put Geneva up 9-8.  The set stayed close from there.  With Geneva leading 18-17, though, the Golden Tornadoes finished the set on an 7-4 run to win 25-21.

Geneva looked to be in position for the sweep in set three, going up 15-12 midway through the set.  Messiah finished the set on an 8-3 run, though, to win the set 25-21.

The fourth was close early on as well, with Geneva leading just 11-10, when freshman Peter Barbato (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver Country Christian) helped serve Geneva to four straight points to go up 15-10.  Four more straight Geneva points behind the serving of McCracken put Geneva up 21-13, and the Golden Tornadoes finished off the set, and the match, 25-19, with fittingly the last two points coming on Messiah hitting errors.

"We enjoyed hosting Messiah today in what we hope will become a friendly rivalry between the two schools," said Head Coach Curt Conser.  "We followed up last night's win with some more pretty good volleyball, but against a very different type of opponent.  Messiah played some of the best backcourt defense we've seen this season, so kills were hard to come by.  Our block really came alive and played a huge part of this win, as we had to work hard for everything we got today."

Neither team found much success hitting.  Geneva finished with just a .074 hitting percentage, but Messiah struggled even more at -.006.  Geneva finished with just 27 kills in the match compared to 47 for Messiah, but the Golden Tornadoes had 19 blocks to just five for the Falcons.  Barbato led the team with seven kills.  McCracken and Barbato each had seven blocks, while senior Spencer York (Beaver, Pa./Beaver County Christian) added six.  Sophomore Dan Townsend finished with 14 digs and five kills, while sophomore Anthony Baronio (Ambridge, Pa./Ambridge) had a team-high 22 assists.

Geneva heads back out on the road with a match at Alderson Broaddus on Wednesday starting at 7:00 p.m.  The Golden Tornadoes defeated Alderson Broaddus in straight sets earlier this season.


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.