PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The Geneva College women's volleyball team opened Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) play with two victories over Waynesburg and Chatham on Saturday at Chatham.  The Golden Tornadoes swept Waynesburg 27-25, 25-21, 25-10 in the first match, and then swept Chatham 25-8, 25-14, 26-24 in the second match of the day.  With the victories, Geneva improved to 8-3, 2-0 in the PAC.

Senior Grace McCracken (Bloomington, Ind./Lighthouse Christian Academy) had back-to-back aces early in set one against Waynesburg to give Geneva a 3-1 lead.  However, Geneva could never pull away from the Yellow Jackets in the set.  Waynesburg even had a set point, 25-24, before Geneva finished the set with three straight points to take the set, 27-25.

Waynesburg jumped out to an early lead in the second set, scoring the first five points.  The Yellow Jackets stretched their lead to 16-10 before the Golden Tornadoes regrouped.  Geneva scored seven straight points, with two kills apiece by freshmen Kimee Kuzma (Baden, Pa./Ambridge) and Hope Shook (Bellwood, Pa./Bellwood-Antis), giving Geneva its first lead of the set at 17-16.  With the score tied at 21-21, the Golden Tornadoes scored the final four points, the last on a kill from senior Kacey Costal (Salem, Ohio/Salem) to win the set, 25-21.

Geneva cruised in the final set, jumping ahead 13-3, and the Golden Tornadoes coasted to a 25-10 victory in the final set to sweep the match.

Costal led the team with nine kills.  Junior Daphne Hunsinger (Harleysville, Pa./Christopher Dock) finished with 25 assists.  Sophomore Kayla Coughlin (Brunswick, Ohio/Brunswick) had a team-high 11 digs.

Geneva opened its match against Chatham just as impressively as it left off against Waynesburg.  The Golden Tornadoes scored the first five points of the match, and after a point from Chatham, Geneva scored six more straight points, going ahead 11-1.  Geneva easily finished off the set, 25-8.

Geneva jumped ahead early in set two as well, going up 9-4.  Chatham never got closer than three points the rest of the set, as the Golden Tornadoes closed out the second set, 25-14, on an ace from Coughlin.

The third set did not go as smoothly for Geneva.  With the set tied at 7-7, Chatham scored five straight points, and Chatham extended that lead to 20-14.  However, Geneva tied the score at 23-23, and after a point by Chatham gave it set point, the Golden Tornadoes scored the final three points of the match, two of them on kills from sophomore Elana Hoppel (Castorland, N.Y./Lowville Academy and Central), including the final point of the match, as Geneva finished off the comeback, 26-24, for the sweep.

Hoppel finished with a team-high ten kills in the match on an impressive .471 hitting percentage.  Costal added seven kills.  Hunsinger finished with another 25 assists in the match, while Coughlin and McCracken led the team with 16 and 13 digs, respectively.

"It's always good to pick up two wins to start conference play," said Head Coach Wendy Smith.  "We are a little short-handed right now with some injuries, and we were sloppy at points today, especially against Waynesburg, but we did what we needed to do to start PAC play with two victories."

Geneva is back in action on Tuesday when it hosts Penn State Altoona for a match starting at 7:00 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 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.