BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – The Geneva College men's volleyball team played its last regular season home match on Wednesday night against Penn State Altoona, and despite the Lions strong recent play, the Golden Tornadoes easily won in straight sets, 25-21, 25-16, 25-19.  Geneva picked up its third straight victory and improved its record to 19-7, 10-2 in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC), while Penn State Altoona fell to 11-14, 3-8 in the AMCC.

Penn State Altoona came into the match fresh off a five-set victory over Penn State Behrend and a five-set loss to Thiel on Saturday, two teams near the top of the AMCC standings.  However, the Lions proved no match for the Golden Tornadoes on Wednesday night.

In the first set, Penn State Altoona scored four straight points early in the set to take a 10-7 lead.  Geneva quickly responded by tying the set at 11-11, and the Golden Tornadoes took the lead for good in the set, 15-14.  Back-to-back kills from junior Quinn McCracken (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver County Christian) followed shortly by back-to-back kills from sophomore Dan Townsend increased Geneva's lead to 22-17, and senior Spencer York (Beaver, Pa./Beaver County Christian) scored Geneva's final two points on kills, 25-21.

Penn State Altoona took another early lead in set two, 4-1.  However, Geneva put together a 6-1 run to take an 11-7 lead, and after two points by the Lions, the Golden Tornadoes used another 6-1 run to take a commanding 17-10 lead.  Geneva closed out the set on another kill from Townsend, 25-16.

Geneva took control of the third set early.  Geneva led 6-4 when the Golden Tornadoes scored eight straight points behind the serving of junior Lincoln Mimidis (Belle Vernon, Pa./Belle Vernon), with senior Matt Peters (Moon Township, Pa./Moon Area) picking up two kills in the stretch.  Geneva eventually increased its lead to 19-9, and despite five straight points by Penn State Altoona late, Geneva finished off the match, 25-19, on three straight kills from McCracken, sophomore Anthony Baronio (Ambridge, Pa./Ambridge) and freshman Peter Barbato (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver County Christian).

McCracken had a team-high ten kills and six blocks to go with eight digs.  Townsend added nine kills on a .389 hitting percentage.  Baronio finished with 20 assists, 12 digs, five kills and two aces in a strong all-around game for the sophomore.  Altoona hit just .009 in the match, in part due to a strong blocking performance by Geneva.  The Golden Tornadoes finished with a .273 hitting percentage.

"I thought we had good energy tonight on the court and from the fans," said Head Coach Curt Conser.  "I felt like our block had a big impact on the match, really giving the Penn State Altoona attack some problems.  Our servers did a nice job of mixing it up as well, and that helped keep Penn State Altoona from getting into a better rhythm." 

"I know I've been saying it all year," added Conser, "but we're just trying to get better each day, and I feel like we've done that over the last couple of weeks.  We have a big day coming up on Saturday, and I feel good about the way we're playing right now, but we'll have to play our best ball of the season to pick up wins against two of the best teams in the conference."

Geneva stands tied for first with Thiel in the AMCC, a team that defeated them earlier this season in Metheny Fieldhouse.  The Golden Tornadoes finish their regular season with two matches on Saturday at Penn State Behrend against Thiel and Penn State Behrend.  If Geneva wins both matches, it will host the AMCC conference playoffs next Friday and Saturday.


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.