BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – The Geneva College women's volleyball team hasn't had a lot of opportunities to play in front of its home crowd so far this season, but the Golden Tornadoes did so on Tuesday night with an impressive sweep of Penn State Altoona, 25-15, 25-23, 25-9.  With the victory, Geneva improved to 9-3, while Penn State Altoona fell to 3-4.

Geneva jumped ahead early in set one.  The Golden Tornadoes scored five straight points to go up 7-1 behind the service of junior Daphne Hunsinger (Harleysville, Pa./Christopher Dock) and two kills apiece by seniors Kacey Costal (Salem, Ohio/Salem) and Millicent Dofelmier (Mill Creek, Wash./Jackson).  Geneva never let Penn State Altoona get closer than three points of the rest of the set, stretching its lead out to as much as eleven before finishing the set, 25-15.

The second set was more of a challenge for Geneva.  Penn State Altoona jumped out early 3-1, and the Lions continued to build their lead until it stretched to 17-10 midway through the set.  Geneva responded, though, with a 10-2 run behind the serving of sophomores Kayla Coughlin (Brunswick, Ohio) and Hailee McDonough (Diamond, Ohio/Southeast) to take its first lead of the set, 21-19.  Penn State Altoona battled back to take a 23-22 lead, but Geneva scored the final three points, the last coming on a kill from sophomore Elana Hoppel (Castorland, N.Y./Lowville Academy and Central) to take the set, 25-9.

Geneva cruised in the final set.  With the Golden Tornadoes ahead 7-6 early in the set, Hoppel served three aces in a six-point run to give Geneva a 13-7 lead.  Coughlin and senior Grace McCracken (Bloomington, Ind./Lighthouse Christian Academy) then served out the match on a 10-2 run, finishing off the set, 25-9, on a kill from freshman Olivia Moore (North Canton, Ohio/Lake Center Christian).

"We've been working really hard at minimizing errors and staying focused, and I thought we did that pretty well tonight," said Head Coach Wendy Smith.  "We had a stretch there in the second set where we didn't play very well, but we were able to fight back and take the set.  Then in the third set we played really well.  We've got a lot of young players out there playing a lot of rotations for us, so with that comes some ups and down that we are still working through, but overall tonight was a good performance."

Costal led the offense with 10 kills, while Hunsinger, Hoppel and Moore each added seven kills.  Hunsinger also finished with a game-high 26 assists to go with eight digs.  Coughlin led the team with 17 digs, with McCracken and freshman Maggie Townsend (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver County Christian each adding 11 digs.  Costal and Moore each had three blocks, while Coughlin and Hoppel each had three aces.

Geneva jumps right back into Presidents' Athletic Conference play tomorrow night with a match at Thiel starting at 7:00 p.m.  After a match next Tuesday at Saint Vincent, Geneva will be back home next Wednesday with a match against Franciscan.


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.