WASHINGTON, Pa. – It has been an impressive stretch for the Geneva College women's volleyball team over the past three weeks, and that strong play continued on Saturday as the Golden Tornadoes added two more Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) victories to their resume at Washington & Jefferson.  In Geneva's first match, it swept W&J by a score of 25-14, 25-15, 25-20.  In the second match against Grove City, Geneva won by a score of 25-23, 22-25, 25-14, 25-22.  Geneva has now won eight straight matches to improve its overall record to 14-3, 6-0 in the PAC.

Geneva made quick work of W&J in the first match of the day.  In the first set, with the score tied 4-4, Geneva scored five straight points behind the service of sophomore Elana Hoppel (Castorland, N.Y./Lowville Academy and Central) to take a 9-4 lead.  After W&J scored three straight points, Geneva answered with a six-point run behind the service of junior Daphne Hunsinger (Harleysville, Pa./Christopher Dock) and three kills from senior Kacey Costal (Salem, Ohio/Salem), taking control of the set, 16-7.  Hunsinger later finished off the set, 25-14, with a kill.

Geneva jumped out to an early 7-2 lead in set two.  After W&J closed to within 9-7, four straight Geneva points, with Hunsinger picking up an ace and Costal a kill, regained control for the Golden Tornadoes, 13-7.  W&J would get to within two points later in the set, gut Geneva closed on a 10-2 run, with Hoppel picking up three kills, including the final one, 25-15.

Geneva stormed out to an 11-2 lead in the third set as freshman Hope Shook (Bellwood, Pa./Bellwood-Antis) had three kills early in the set.  W&J used a run midway through the set to close to within 17-14, but Geneva managed to close out the set, and the match, 25-20, with Shook contributing two more kills.

Shook finished with a team-high 11 kills on a .345 hitting percentage in the first match, while Costal and Hoppel each added nine kills.  Hunsinger stuffed the stat sheet again with 27 assists, 8 digs and 6 kills.  Sophomore Kayla Coughlin (Brunswick, Ohio/Brunswick) had a team-high 16 digs, while senior Grace McCracken (Bloomington, Ind./Lighthouse Christian Academy) finished with 15 digs.

Geneva had a tougher challenge against an improved Grove City squad in its second match.  With Geneva leading 7-6 in the first set, Grove City went on a 6-1 run to take a 12-8 lead, and the Wolverines increased that lead later in the set to 21-16.  However, Geneva wouldn't go away, and the Golden Tornadoes responded later in the set with a six-point run to go ahead 24-22, led by the service of Coughlin, and Hoppel closed out the comeback with a kill, 25-23.

The second set was tight early on until Grove City used a run to go ahead 16-13.  Geneva answered again with five straight points, with Shook picking up two aces and Hunsinger two kills, to take an 18-16 lead.  However, the Wolverines answered with five straight points off their own to take back the lead, 21-18, and Geneva never recovered in dropping the set, 25-22.

The third set proved to be the best of the match for Geneva.  With the score tied 7-7, the Golden Tornadoes scored six straight points, led again by the serving of Coughlin, who picked up an ace in the run, and Geneva easily finished off the set, 25-14.

Geneva looked to be in full control when it scored the first six points of the fourth set, as Coughlin picked up three more aces in the stretch.  However, Grove City scored eight straight points midway through the set to take its first lead, 14-12.  The set stayed tight rest of the way, but with the score tied at 21-21, the Golden Tornadoes closed on a 4-1 run with freshman Olivia Moore (North Canton, Ohio/Lake Center Christian) picking up two kills to help Geneva finish off the set, and the match, 25-22.

Shook once again led the team with 11 kills, while Hoppel had ten kills and Costal, Moore and senior Millicent Dofelmier (Mill Creek, Wash./Jackson) each added eight kills.  Hunsinger finished with 39 assists, 14 digs and 5 kills.  Coughlin had a team-high 25 digs and 5 aces.

"Any time you can pick up two road wins in the conference, it's been a good day," said Head Coach Wendy Smith.  "W&J has struggled a bit recently, and to our credit, we never let them into the match.  Grove City is better than they've been the last couple of years, and we had to battle to defeat them.  Once again, though, we had people step up late in sets when we needed it to come up with the victory.  We're getting contributions from a lot of different people right now, which really makes us a tough team to defend.  Now we just need to bring this play back home where we've yet to play our best volleyball."

Geneva has been road warriors so far this season, with just three of its first 17 matches at home.  In fact, all six of Geneva's PAC victories have been on the road.  The Golden Tornadoes will now finish their season with nine of their remaining twelve matches at home, beginning with a match against John Carroll on Wednesday 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.