ERIE, Pa. – The Geneva College men's volleyball team finished up its regular season on Saturday with two matches at Penn State Behrend against the host Lions and Thiel College.  Geneva needed to win both matches in order to clinch the #1 seed in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC), but the Golden Tornadoes began the day with a heartbreaking five-set loss to Penn State Behrend, 3-2 (25-18, 18-25, 23-25, 25-22, 23-21).  Geneva did follow that up with a 3-1 victory (25-21, 21-25, 25-20, 25-16) over Thiel to split the day's matches.  Geneva now stands at 20-8, 11-3 in the AMCC, and the Golden Tornadoes will need some help if they are going to host the conference tournament.
 
In the first match against Penn State Behrend, neither team led by more than two points in the first set until the Lions scored four straight points to take a 20-15 lead, and Geneva couldn't recover in dropping the first set, 25-18.
 
Geneva took control of the second set midway through the set.  With the score tied at 9-9, Geneva scored seven straight points behind the serving of sophomore Dan Townsend (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver County Christian), and Townsend closed out the set with a kill, 25-18.
 
Penn State Behrend took an early 9-5 lead in the third set, but Geneva battled back to take a 12-11 lead, with senior Spencer York (Beaver, Pa./Beaver County Christian) contributing two kills in the run.  The set stayed tight the rest of the way before junior Quinn McCracken (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver County Christian) closed things out with a kill, 25-23.
 
Penn State Behrend once again took an early lead in set four, this time 12-6.  Geneva slowly began to chip away at the deficit, though, and back-to-back kills from Townsend and York tied things at 20-20.  However, the Lions finished things out from there, evening the match at 2-2 with a 25-22 win.
 
The Lions again jumped ahead in the fifth set, this time 9-5.  Geneva still trailed 14-12 when the Golden Tornadoes staved off two match points to tie the score at 14-14.  Geneva fought off two more match points before taking a 17-16 lead, giving the Golden Tornadoes their first match point.  However, Penn State Behrend managed to fight off that that point, along with three more match points for Geneva in the set, before the Lions scored the last three points of the match, winning 23-21.
 
York finished the match with a career-high 20 kills and eight blocks.  McCracken added 13 kills and 14 digs, while Townsend also finished with 13 kills.  Sophomore Anthony Baronio (Ambridge, Pa./Ambridge) almost had a triple-double, finishing with 39 assists, 16 digs and seven kills.  Senior Matt Peters (Moon Township, Pa./Moon Area) contributed 15 digs, 14 assists and five kills, while freshman Peter Barbato (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver County Christian) had a school-record 13 blocks.
 
Despite the heartbreaking loss, Geneva responded well in the second match against Thiel, who came into the day tied for first place in the AMCC with the Golden Tornadoes.
 
In the first set, back-to-back aces from Barbato and a kill from McCracken helped Geneva take an early 7-2 lead.  The Golden Tornadoes never let the Tomcats get closer than two points the rest of the way, and York finished off the set with a kill, 25-21.
 
In the second set, two straight kills from McCracken put Geneva up 8-5 early, but Thiel responded with five straight points to take back the lead, 10-8.  The set stayed tight from there, but with the score tied at 19-19, the Tomcats closed the set on a 6-2 run to win 25-21.
 
Thiel went up early, 10-6, in the third set, but Geneva responded with a run to tie the score at 12-12.  A few minutes later, the Golden Tornadoes scored four straight points to take a 20-18 lead, and after Thiel tied things with two straight points, Geneva closed out the set with five straight points, the last coming on another kill from York, 25-20.
 
In the fourth set, with Geneva leading 11-10, the Golden Tornadoes scored seven straight points behind the serving of Townsend to take a commanding 18-10 lead, with Barbato picking up two kills in the stretch.  Baronio then closed out the set, and the match, with a kill, 25-16.
 
Townsend led the way with 14 kills on a .393 hitting percentage, while McCracken added 11 kills on a .400 hitting percentage.  Baronio had another strong all-around game, finishing with 29 assists, seven digs, five kills and three aces.
 
"I thought we came out a little flat against Behrend," said Head Coach Curt Conser.  "But we picked up our play and had opportunities to win the match, but Behrend played pretty good defense at the end of that fifth set, and we couldn't get that last point.  I was pleased with how we responded against Thiel, though, and I thought we played better as the match progressed."
 
With Thiel's second loss on Saturday to Hiram, Geneva is now tied in the loss column with Wittenberg for the top seed in the conference, which also comes with it the opportunity to host the AMCC tournament involving the top four teams in the conference.  Wittenberg finishes its regular season with a match at home against Penn State Altoona tomorrow, and a win by Wittenberg will give the Tigers the tiebreaker over Geneva.  The conference tournament begins next Friday.


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.