BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – It wasn't always pretty, and the Geneva College men's volleyball team had to work themselves out of some rough patches after not playing for ten days, but the Golden Tornadoes eventually dug deep and found a way to pull out a five-set victory over Wittenberg 25-23, 22-25, 25-18, 17-25, 15-12 to open Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) play with a win.  Geneva improved to 12-6 overall, 1-0 in the AMCC, while Wittenberg fell to 5-11, 1-1 in the AMCC.

Geneva looked out of sync early in the match, with Wittenberg scoring the first three points of the first set on its way to an 8-3 lead.  The Golden Tornadoes still trailed 12-7 before Geneva started to rally.  Two kills by junior Dan Townsend (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver County Christian) and two kills by senior Quinn McCracken (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver County Christian) helped the Golden Tornadoes take their first lead of the set, 18-17, after a McCracken kill, and Geneva pushed its lead to 22-19 on a kill by junior Anthony Baronio (Ambridge, Pa./Ambridge).  Wittenberg managed to pull to within 24-23, but a kill by Townsend finished off the set, 25-23.

Wittenberg once again took an early lead in the second set, scoring the opening two points.  A kill by freshman Jake Williams (North Huntingdon, Pa./Norwin) gave Geneva a 9-8 lead, but the Tigers responded with four straight points to take a 12-9 lead, with the Golden Tornadoes continuing to struggle to finish off their attack opportunities.  Geneva would pull to within 19-18, but the Golden Tornadoes never got any closer and Wittenberg evened up the match with a 25-22 win.

Geneva used its block to finally get some momentum going to open the third set.  Geneva scored the first five points of the set, four on blocks, with freshman Byron Spear (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills) picking up a solo block and three assisted blocks with Baronio.  Wittenberg pulled to within 8-6, but Geneva answered with four straight points behind the serving of senior Michael Pohlod (Gibsonia, Pa./Pine Richland) to extend its lead to 12-6, and the Golden Tornadoes never let the Tigers back into the set.  Geneva pushed its lead to 22-13 after two kills by McCracken and an ace from Baronio, and then McCracken finished off the set with a kill, 25-18.  Geneva had seven blocks in the set.

The fourth set proved to be a different story, though.  As well as Geneva played in the third set, the Golden Tornadoes played just as poorly in the fourth set.  Wittenberg jumped ahead 4-2, and a minute later the Tigers used an 8-1 run to take full control of the set, 14-6.  The Golden Tornadoes pulled within four, 18-14, but Wittenberg closed out the set with ease, 25-17, as Geneva hit just .065 in the set.

The loss in the fourth set left Geneva, the preseason favorite in the AMCC, staring at a potential defeat to open conference play.  The Golden Tornadoes needed a spark, and it was McCracken who provided it late.  A kill by McCracken gave Geneva a 7-5 lead after Wittenberg opened the set with two straight points.  The Tigers cut the Golden Tornado lead to 10-9, but a kill by Baronio followed by a big solo block and a kill by McCracken extended Geneva's lead to 13-9.  Another McCracken kill pushed Geneva to match point, 14-10, but Wittenberg fought off two match points, forcing Head Coach Curt Conser to call a timeout.  With a chance to set up the offense, Geneva went right to McCracken who finished off the match with a huge kill, 15-12.

McCracken led the team with 16 kills, while Baronio picked up his second triple-double of the season with 11 kills, 21 assists and 11 digs.  He also added eight blocks.  Townsend was steady as well, finishing with eight kills and 12 digs.  Spear added seven blocks for the Golden Tornadoes, who finished with 14 blocks as a team.  Freshman Curtis Thomas (Arlington Heights, Ill./Christian Heritage Academy) added 15 assists and nine digs.  Wittenberg outhit Geneva .224 to .196, including 64 kills for the Tigers compared to just 49 for Geneva.

"It was certainly a struggle at times for us tonight," said Coach Conser.  "They had a lot more kills than us, they had more digs, and they had a better hitting percentage.  Typically, you don't win those kinds of matches.  But we had less errors on our swing and on our serve, and our block came alive at key times when we needed it, and that was enough to get us through tonight.  I thought Anthony played very well all match, and Dan was really solid for us as well.  Then Quinn was big for us down the stretch when we really needed him, especially in that fifth set.  However, there's still a lot of inconsistency that we're showing that we have to clean up, but fortunately tonight we found a way to prevail."

Geneva doesn't get much time to recover as the Golden Tornadoes welcome Penn State Altoona tomorrow for a 2:00 p.m. match.


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.