BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – Saturday was a big day for the Geneva College men's volleyball team as it hosted an Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) quad match in Metheny Fieldhouse.  The Golden Tornadoes played twice on Saturday, including an opening match with Penn State Behrend who came into the day tied with Geneva for first place in the AMCC.  Geneva came up with a big four-set victory over the Lions 25-22, 25-16, 23-25, 25-18.  The Golden Tornadoes followed that up with a tight 25-23, 30-28, 26-24 sweep of Thiel.  Geneva has now won seven straight matches and currently stands at 16-6 overall, 5-0 in the AMCC.

Geneva jumped out to an early to a 4-1 lead in the first set against Penn State Behrend, with senior Quinn McCracken (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver County Christian) picking up two kills and junior Dan Townsend (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver County Christian) adding another.  The Lions would battle back to take a 7-6 lead, though, and the set stayed tight most of the rest of the way.  With the Golden Tornadoes clinging to a 20-19 lead late, sophomore Peter Barbato (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver County Christian) and McCracken came up with back-to-back kills to extend Geneva's lead to three points, and junior Anthony Baronio (Ambridge, Pa./Ambridge) finished off the set with a kill, 25-22.

The Lions jumped out to a 4-2 lead in the second set, but Geneva quickly took control of the set.  McCracken had two kills and Townsend one kill in a four-point run to give Geneva a 6-4 lead.  A minute later, back-to-back kills from freshman Byron Spear (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills) and McCracken helped Geneva take a 10-6 lead.  Then with Geneva leading 11-8, the Golden Tornadoes ran away with the set with ten straight points behind the serving of Spear.  Baronio had three kills and freshman Jake Williams (North Hungtindon, Pa./Norwin) two kills in the run, pushing Geneva's lead to 21-8, and the Golden Tornadoes closed out the set 25-16 on an ace from McCracken. 

Penn State Behrend had the better of the play early in set three, jumping out to a 6-2 lead.  Geneva used a 5-2 run, with McCracken contributing two kills, to even the set at 11-11.  The Golden Tornadoes used a three-point run later in the set to take their first lead of the set, 19-18.  However, with the set tied at 23-23, Penn State Behrend scored the last two points to pick up the set, 25-23.

The Lions once again jumped ahead early in the fourth set, 3-1.  However, Geneva put together a 7-2 run to retake the lead, 8-5.  Penn State Behrend battled back to tie the set at 13-13, but the Golden Tornadoes answered with a 6-2 run, with Townsend picking up back-to-back kills in the stretch, giving Geneva a 19-15 lead.  The Lions had one last run, pulling to within 19-18, forcing Geneva to call a timeout.  The Golden Tornadoes came out of the timeout and put the match away, scoring the last six points behind the serving of Townsend, who finished off the match with an ace, 25-18.

Geneva played one of its best all-around matches of the season.  McCracken was tremendous with 18 kills on a .667 hitting percentage, while also adding a team-high 13 digs.  Baronio picked up his third triple-double of the season, finishing with 11 kills, 23 assists and 10 digs.  Townsend and Williams also added eight kills apiece, with a .389 and .350 hitting percentage, respectively.  Freshman Curtis Thomas (Arlington Heights, Ill./Christian Heritage Academy) added 23 assists, while Spear had a team-high six blocks.  As a team Geneva hit .345 in the match, while the Lions put together a solid .237 hitting percentage.

The second match of the day of Thiel proved to be a struggle for Geneva, after the Golden Tornadoes sat for four hours.  Thiel jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the first set.  The Golden Tornadoes scored three straight with an ace from McCracken and a kill from Townsend to give Geneva a 6-5 lead.  The set went back-and-forth from there.  With the score tied 12-12, a kill from Barbato and back-to-back kills by Townsend gave Geneva a 15-12 lead.  Thiel responded right back to take a 17-16 lead.  Geneva answered with three straight points, but Thiel tied it at 19-19.  The Golden Tornadoes went on a 4-1 run to take a 23-20 lead, but Thiel closed to within 24-23 before a Tomcat service error gave Geneva the first set, 25-23.

Geneva jumped ahead early in the second set, 6-1, as Barbato opened the set with back-to-back kills.  The Golden Tornadoes continued to keep a solid margin late into the set, but with Geneva leading 20-15, the Tomcats pulled back into things.  An 8-2 run by Thiel gave the Tomcats their first lead of the set, 23-22.  Over the next several minutes, Geneva fought off four set points.  With Thiel leading 28-27, the Golden Tornadoes scored the final three points, the final coming on a Townsend block to give Geneva the set, 30-28.

The third set proved just as tight.  Geneva got off to the better start, though, using a 6-1 run to take a 9-5 lead, with Barbato picking up two kills in the run.  However, the Tomcats answered back again with a 10-4 run to take a 15-13 lead.  The Golden Tornadoes responded with a 7-2 run to take a 20-17 lead, but a moment later Thiel scored four straight to take a 22-21 lead.  The Tomcats had another set point, 24-23, before Geneva closed the match with three points, with Spear and Barbato coming up with an assisted block to close out the match, 26-24.

The final numbers in the second match weren't quite as pretty for the Golden Tornadoes.  McCracken had another strong match, finishing with 14 kills.  Barbato added eight kills, but Geneva hit just .116 for the match as the Tomcat block gave the Golden Tornadoes problems all day, with Thiel finishing with 14 blocks.  Townsend had five kills and a team-high 13 digs.  Thomas had a double-double with 15 assists and 11 digs, while Baronio finished with 19 assists and nine digs.

"I thought the match with Behrend was one of our best matches as a team this season," said Head Coach Curt Conser.  "Our defense wasn't great at times, but our offense was really strong.  Against Thiel, we didn't play with the same sense of urgency as earlier in the day.  We struggled in about every facet, and that was frustrating.  Our goal was obviously to pick up two wins today, and I felt really good about things after the Behrend match.  But the Thiel match left a lot to be desired for our play, despite the win.  Overall, though, we did what we need to do to come up with two victories."

Geneva has a tri-match on Tuesday at Mount Union beginning with a match at 6:00 p.m. with Alderson Broaddus followed by an 8:00 p.m. match against Mount Union.  After those matches Geneva will have a break during Geneva's Spring Break.


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.