ROCHESTER, N.Y. – In big moments, a team needs its best players to step forward, and senior Quinn McCracken (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver County Christian) did that on Friday for the Geneva College men's volleyball team as he had a career-high 21 kills in both of Geneva's five-set victories at the Nazareth Invitational, with the Golden Tornadoes also getting a big day from junior Anthony Baronio (Ambridge, Pa./Ambridge).  In the first match of the day, Geneva defeated Lasell 25-20, 28-30, 21-25, 25-20, 15-8.  In the second match of the day against the host Nazareth, the Golden Tornadoes prevailed 19-25, 25-22, 27-25, 20-25, 15-12.  With the two victories, Geneva improved to 9-4 on the season and has now won six straight matches.

Geneva arrived in Rochester expecting to play nationally-ranked Wells in its first match of the day, but Wells had travel difficulties due to the winter storms in the area and were unable to make it to the match.  Bard, another school scheduled to participate at the Invitational, was unable to make it as well, and they were scheduled to play Nazareth in the last match of the day.  Since both Geneva and Nazareth each lost a match, they decided to play each other in the open evening slot.

In the first match of the day, Lasell opened the first set with three straight points before Geneva answered right back with three straight points, with McCracken and Baronio picking up early kills, which would be a theme for the rest of the match.  A minute later, the Golden Tornadoes scored four straight points to go ahead 8-5.  Geneva extended its lead to 18-12 on an ace by freshman Jake Williams (North Huntingdon, Pa./Norwin) before Lasell put together a run to close to within 19-18.  However, a kill by McCracken started a three-point run by Geneva to regain control of the set, and Baronio finished off the set with a kill, 25-20.

The Golden Tornadoes jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the second set, with Baronio and McCracken picking up early kills.  Geneva still led 12-8 on a kill by sophomore Peter Barbato (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver County Christian) before the Lasers answered with four straight points to tie the set at 12-12.  A kill by Baronio helped Geneva regain a 17-15 lead, but Lasell scored four straight to take its first lead of the set, 19-17.  The set would stay tight from there.  Tied at 22-22, the two teams alternated points for twelve straight points.  Lasell scored, and Geneva would answer back to even the set, fighting off five set points in the process.  However, with the set tied 28-28, Lasell finished off the set with two straight points, 30-28, to even the match at one set apiece.

Lasell opened the third set with three straight points, but Geneva responded with a run, and after Barbato put together back-to-back kills, the Golden Tornadoes led 8-5.  The Lasers used a four-point run to regain the lead, 12-11, and a moment later, Lasell scored five straight points to take an 18-13 lead.  Geneva would close to within one point, 22-21, on a kill by Baronio, but Lasell scored the final three points to win the set, 25-21.

The fourth set stayed tight early, with neither team leading by more than two points until Geneva used a 6-1 run to take a 16-12 lead.  Lasell never got closer than two points the rest of the set, the last time at 22-20, but the Golden Tornadoes closed out the set, 25-20, with three straight points to send the match to a fifth and final set.

McCracken had two early kills in the fifth set as Geneva took a 3-1 lead, with the Golden Tornadoes looking to their senior often in the final set.  Lasell responded to take a 6-5 lead, but McCracken continued to find success with five kills in the first half of the set.  A kill by senior Michael Pohlod (Gibsonia, Pa./Pine Richland) began a four-point run for Geneva as the Golden Tornadoes took a 9-6 lead, and Geneva never looked back.  In fact, the Golden Tornadoes closed the set on a 10-2 run to dominate the match-deciding set, with Baronio and McCracken finishing off the match with a block, 15-8.

McCracken finished with a career-high 21 kills on an impressive .459 hitting percentage.  Baronio finished with his first triple-double of the season with 17 kills (on a .419 hitting percentage), 28 assists and 11 digs.  He added five blocks as well.  Barbato added 10 kills as Geneva finished the match with a .290 hitting percentage as a team.  The Golden Tornadoes also had 13 blocks, led by freshman Byron Spear's (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills) seven blocks, while junior Dan Townsend (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver County Christian) contributed six kills, five digs and three aces.  Freshman Curtis Thomas (Arlington Heights, Ill./Christian Heritage Academy) added 22 assists.

In the second match of the day, it was Nazareth who took early control.  The Golden Flyers jumped out to a 5-2 lead and never let Geneva back into the set.  Nazareth slowly built its lead throughout the set, leading by as many as seven points before finishing off the set, 25-19.  McCracken did have four kills in the set.

The second set stayed very tight early on, with each team holding slim leads at various points.  Neither team led by more than two points until Geneva scored three straight points on a kill by McCracken, an ace by Spear and a kill by Williams to take a 20-17 lead.  After a point by Nazareth, the Golden Tornadoes added three more points, two on kills by McCracken and Williams, to take a 23-18 lead.  Nazareth would close to within two points, 24-22, but Barbato finished off the set with a kill, 25-22, to even the match up.

The third set would prove even tighter.  With Geneva trailing 9-8, the Golden Tornadoes scored four straight points, two on kills by Townsend, to take a 12-9 lead, but Nazareth responded to tie the set up at 14-14.  From there the two teams virtually traded points the rest of the set.  Neither team led by more than one point until, with the set tied 25-25, a Nazareth service error followed by a kill from Baronio gave Geneva a 27-25 win.

Spear opened the fourth set with a kill, but it would be the only lead of the set for Geneva.  Nazareth went on a 4-1 run to take a 4-2 lead, and a moment later, the Golden Flyers had built their lead to 11-6, with Geneva contributing five attack errors and a service error to Nazareth's lead.  It never got any better for the Golden Tornadoes as Nazareth steadily built its lead to as many as eight, 21-13, before tying up the match with a 25-20 victory, sending the two teams to another fifth set.

Geneva took an early 3-1 lead on two kills by Spear, but Nazareth immediately tied things up.  Two kills by Baronio regained the lead for the Golden Tornadoes, 6-4, and Geneva would never let go of the lead, though the Golden Tornadoes could never pull away.  Nazareth stayed close, getting to within two points multiple times late, the last at 14-12, but fittingly McCracken finished off the match with a kill, 15-12.

McCracken matched his career-high from earlier in the day with another 21 kills, this time on a .372 hitting percentage.  Baronio contributed 23 assists and nine kills.  Spear had a career-high eight kills on a .538 hitting percentage, while Townsend added 12 digs and five kills.  Thomas contributed 22 assists.  As a team Geneva hit .236 and had eight blocks, led by Spear and Barbato who each had four.  Nazareth outhit the Golden Tornadoes with a .315 hitting percentage and had 71 kills to 54 for Geneva, but the Golden Flyers were hurt by 21 service errors.

"We really brought it in the fifth sets today, and that was obviously key," said Head Coach Curt Conser.  "I've got to give our guys a lot of credit for executing when they had to, but we still need to have that sort of execution throughout the match.  Against Lasell, I felt like we gave away the second set with our play, and that turned quickly into two sets when we dropped the third, but we regrouped to control the final two sets.  Nazareth was really big and athletic, and they presented some real challenges.  But we found ways to make plays in that one as well, especially late.  Quinn was just tremendous today, and Anthony was very good as well.  We got contributions from a number of guys, though, which was very important."

Geneva is right back in action tomorrow with two more matches to finish up its play in New York.  The Golden Tornadoes play Johnson & Wales at 1:00 p.m. before making the short trip over to St. John Fisher for a match at 3:00 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 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.