GREENVILLE, Pa. – The Geneva College women's volleyball team had to work to earn a victory on the road against Thiel on Wednesday night, but the Golden Tornadoes got the job done, sweeping the Tomcats 25-21, 25-21, 25-21.  With the victory, Geneva remains perfect in Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) play, improving its record to 10-3 overall, 3-0 in the PAC, while Thiel fell to 1-12 overall, 0-1 in the PAC.

Despite Thiel coming into tonight's match with an ugly record, the Tomcats put up a strong fight.  Thiel jumped ahead to an early 5-1 lead in the first set, eventually stretching its lead to 9-4, prompting Head Coach Wendy Smith to call a timeout.  Whatever Coach Smith said in the timeout seemed to work, as Geneva scored five straight points a few minutes later to take its first lead, 14-13, with junior Daphne Hunsinger (Harleysville, Pa./Christopher Dock) picking up two kills and one service ace in the stretch.  The set was still tight with Geneva clinging to a 21-20 lead before the Golden Tornadoes scored four of the final five points to win, 25-21, with Hunsinger picking up two more kills down the stretch.

The second set followed a similar script.  Thiel jumped ahead quickly, 5-1, and eventually increased its lead to 12-5.  Once again, though, Geneva battled back, and after the Golden Tornadoes put another five-point run, they took their first lead of the set, 17-15, with senior Kacey Costal (Salem, Ohio/Salem) contributing two kills in the run.  Thiel retook the lead, 20-19, before Geneva finished the set on a 6-1 run, with freshman Hope Shook (Bellwood, Pa./Bellwood-Antis) picking up three kills, including the final one, to win 25-21.

Unlike the first two sets, Geneva took an early lead, 6-3, in the third set, with the Golden Tornadoes eventually stretching their lead to 11-6.  Thiel battled back again, though, closing to within one point, 14-13.  However, Geneva responded to push its lead back to 20-15, and the Golden Tornadoes held on from there for another 25-21 victory, with Hunsinger finishing off the match with a kill.

"Despite Thiel's record, I thought they really played pretty well, and they made us work," said Smith.  "We certainly dug ourselves some holes in a couple of those sets, but we were able to battle back in each set.  There are still some consistency issues we need to work through, but tonight was a solid win against a Thiel squad that, while their record may not be pretty, I thought really played us tough."

Hunsinger picked up her fourth triple-double of the season, finishing with 25 assists, 12 digs and 11 kills.  Costal added 11 kills, while Shook was particularly effective with 10 kills on a .476 hitting percentage.  Sophomore Kayla Coughlin (Brunswick, Ohio/Brunswick) led the team with 16 digs.

Geneva is off this weekend before heading to Saint Vincent next Tuesday for a 7:00 p.m. match.  The Golden Tornadoes return home the following night for a match with Franciscan 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.