BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – It was a good day for the Geneva College men's volleyball team on Saturday, with the Golden Tornadoes winning all six of their sets against two opponents.  Geneva swept both Randolph Macon (25-21, 25-18, 25-22) and Elmira (25-21, 25-23, 25-16) in the Saturday tri-match to improve its record to 7-4 on the season.

Randolph-Macon opened the first match of the day with three straight points to take an early lead.  A kill by junior Anthony Baronio (Ambridge, Pa./Ambridge) evened the score at 5-5, but Geneva didn't take its first lead of the set until 13-12 on a Yellow Jacket attack error.  After Randolph-Macon scored a point to even the score, Geneva scored five straight points behind the serving of junior Dan Townsend (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver County Christian), who picked up three aces in the stretch, to take an 18-13 lead.  Randolph-Macon would pull back to within one point, 21-20, but three straight points by the Golden Tornadoes extended their lead to 24-20, and sophomore Peter Barbato (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver County Christian) finished the set off with a kill, 25-21.

The second set went back-and-forth early, with neither team able to take more than a two-point lead.  With the set tied at 14-14, however, Geneva went on an 8-2 run.  Barbato picked up two kills in the stretch, which pushed the Golden Tornadoes ahead 22-16, and Geneva closed out the set on a kill by senior Quinn McCracken (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver County Christian), 25-18.

Geneva jumped ahead early in the third set, 6-2, with McCracken adding two early kills.  Randolph-Macon clawed its way back into the set, though, tying the score at 11-11.  McCracken helped Geneva stretch its lead back out, serving five straight points to put Geneva ahead 16-11, but the Yellow Jackets responded with an 8-2 run to take their first lead of the set, 19-18.  Randolph-Macon still held a 22-21 lead when the Golden Tornadoes finished off the match with the final four points, with Townsend picking up two kills in the run, to close out the victory, 25-22.

McCracken had a team-high 11 kills on a .304 hitting percentage to lead the offense, while Barbato added a season-high 10 kills on an even better .438 hitting percentage.  Baronio finished with 19 assists, eight digs and six kills, with Geneva finishing the match with a .200 hitting percentage.  Freshman Curtis Thomas (Arlington Heights, Ill./Christian Heritage Academy) added 18 assists, while Townsend contributed eight digs, six kills and four aces.

In the second match of the day against Elmira, Geneva used a 5-1 run early in the first set to take a 10-6 lead, with Baronio contributing two kills early on.  The Soaring Eagles battled back to tie the score at 13-13, though, and after Geneva extended the lead back to 20-16, with Baronio picking up two more kills, Elmira closed to with 22-21 late.  However, the Golden Tornadoes finished the set with three straight points on kills from freshman Byron Spear (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills), Baronio and Townsend to win the set, 25-21.

Geneva jumped to a big lead early in set two, 8-2, with four different Golden Tornadoes contributing kills in the opening stretch.  The Golden Tornadoes added four straight points midway through the set, with McCracken picking up two more kills in the run, to give Geneva a 14-6 lead, and the Golden Tornadoes looked to be in full control.  The Golden Tornadoes still led 19-12, but Geneva got sloppy late and Elmira capitalized, going on an 11-4 run to tie the set at 23-23.  However, Townsend followed with a kill, and an attack error by Elmira gave Geneva a 25-23 win.

The Golden Tornadoes once again opened the third set with an 8-2 run, with Townsend contributing two early kills.  This time Geneva would not let the Soaring Eagles back into the set.  The Golden Tornadoes built their lead to as much as 20-9 before finishing out the match, 25-16, on a kill by freshman Jake Williams (North Huntingdon, Pa./Norwin).

Baronio led the offense in the second match with 12 kills, 18 assists and four blocks.  McCracken had nine kills on a .412 hitting percentage, while Townsend finished with seven kills on a .417 hitting percentage.  McCracken also added a team-high seven digs.  Thomas added 17 assists.  As a team Geneva hit an impressive .360 on the attack.

"Elmira and Randolph-Macon are both solid programs, but for where we are right now as a team, these were matches, especially at home, that we should win, and we did that today," said Head Coach Curt Conser.  "I thought our hitters, with a few exceptions, made better choices today, and that led to a better hitting percentage.  I still want to get more out of some of our outsides, and that's something we need to improve upon, but for the most part this was a solid performance and part of the process of our team getting to where we need to get to as we approach conference play in a couple of weeks."

Geneva heads to New York next weekend where it will face some strong competition.  The Golden Tornadoes will play Wells and Lasell on Friday and then follow that on Saturday with two matches against Johnson & Wales and St. John Fisher. 


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 145 traditional undergraduate majors and programs, fully online Adult Degree Programs and high-demand graduate degrees, Geneva's programs are recognized for their high quality. Geneva is included on Kiplinger's Personal Finance's "2019 Best College Values" list and has one of the top undergraduate engineering programs in the nation, according to U.S. News and World Report. 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.