ARLINGTON, Va. – The Geneva College men's volleyball team's second day of the season proved to be much tougher for the Golden Tornadoes than their first.  Just twelve hours after opening the season with a road win over Elizabethtown College, Geneva was swept twice on Saturday afternoon in a tri-match at Marymount University.  Geneva fell to Marymount in its first match of the day by a score of 15-25, 23-25, 22-25, and the Golden Tornadoes then lost to Alvernia by a score of 24-26, 25-27, 23-25.  Geneva's record now stands at 1-2.

Marymount came into Saturday's match already with five tough matches under its belt.  The Saints opened their season with five matches in California against top-level competition, and despite winning only one of those matches, Marymount put up a tough fight against the nationally ranked teams it faced on the west coast.

When the match began, it was Marymount who dominated the early going.  The Saints scored the first three points of the match on its way to a 10-3 lead, and Geneva never got closer than three points of the rest of the set as Marymount won easily, 25-15.

The Golden Tornadoes regrouped and played much more competitively the rest of the match, but they failed to put together sustained consistent play.  With the second set tied at 8-8, Marymount scored three straight to take the lead.  Geneva closed to within 12-11, but the Saints answered with four more straight points to take a 16-11 lead, their biggest of the set.  The Golden Tornadoes began to steadily chip away at the lead, led by senior Quinn McCracken (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver County Christian) who had four kills down the stretch.  An ace by freshman Byron Spear (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills) pulled Geneva to within 24-23, but Marymount closed out the set with the final point.

Geneva got ahead early in set three, led by junior Anthony Baronio (Ambridge, Pa./Ambridge).  Baronio had four kills early in the set, which helped Geneva take a 10-7 lead.  However, Marymount answered with an 8-2 run to take a 15-12 lead, and the Golden Tornadoes never got closer than one point again.  Geneva did close to 23-22 on a kill by Spear, but the Saints closed out the match with the final two points, 25-22.

McCracken led the offense with 13 kills on a .379 hitting percentage.  Baronio narrowly missed a triple-double, finishing with 14 assists, 12 digs and eight kills.  The two teams' hitting percentages were almost identical, with both teams finishing with 30 kills, but Marymount finished with 11 aces compared to just two for Geneva.  The Golden Tornadoes also 17 service errors, while the Saints had just 13.

Geneva turned right around 30 minutes later to take on Alvernia in what would prove to be a very even match, but once again the Golden Tornadoes failed to make the plays it needed to late.  Alvernia took an early 8-5 lead in the first set, but five straight points behind the serving of junior Dan Townsend (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver County Christian) gave Geneva a 10-8 lead.  However, the Golden Wolves answered right back with five straight points of their own.  The set stayed tight the rest of the way, and when McCracken put together a stretch of three kills in four points, Geneva led 19-17.  Once again, though, Geneva couldn't find the way to put away the set.  Alvernia scored four straight to go ahead 23-20, and while Geneva tied the set at 23-23, the Golden Wolves scored three of the final four points to win 26-24.

The Golden Tornadoes took an early lead again in set two, going ahead 5-2 as McCracken had two kills.  Geneva still held a 10-7 lead when Alvernia went on a 7-3 run to take its first lead of the set, 14-13.  After two Geneva points regained the lead for the Golden Tornadoes, the Golden Wolves went on a 6-1 run to pull ahead 19-15.  However, a 5-1 run by Geneva tied the set at 22-22.  The Golden Tornadoes could never take the lead, though, and after fighting off three set points, Alvernia finally converted on its fourth attempt to win the set, 27-25.

It was Alvernia who took the lead early in the third set, scoring the first five points.  Geneva slowly got back into the set, though, and after three straight points, the Golden Tornadoes evened the score at 11-11.  Once again, however, Alvernia had a response, this time scoring three straight points.  The rest of the set stayed tight, though, and the Golden Tornadoes finally took their first lead of the set, 23-22.  However, the Golden Tornadoes faltered late.  Alvernia finished the match with three straight points to win 25-23.

McCracken finished with a season-high 15 kills on a .265 hitting percentage.  Baronio finished with his third double-double in as many matches, adding 21 assists and 10 kills.  Freshman Jake Williams (North Huntingdon, Pa./Norwin) had his best match of the early season, finishing with eight kills on a .389 hitting percentage along with a team-high eight digs.  Freshman setter Curtis Thomas (Arlington Heights, Ill./Christian Heritage Academy) also saw extended playing time and finished with 13 assists.  Once again Geneva struggled serving, finishing with just two aces compared to 14 service errors, which proved to be the biggest difference between the two teams in the match.

 "We played six sets today and felt like we put ourselves in position to win five of them," said Head Coach Curt Conser.  "We had some strong individual performances in both matches, but we couldn't make the plays late when we needed to, which you have to do to win matches.  We have to play more disciplined volleyball if we expect to beat quality teams like we played today."

Geneva will get right back into action on Tuesday when the Golden Tornadoes have their home-opener against Alderson Broaddus at 7:00 p.m.  The match was originally scheduled to be on the road, but because of a facility issue at Alderson Broaddus, the match was moved to Metheny Fieldhouse.


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.