ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The five-set match giveth, and the five-set match taketh away.  A day after the Geneva College men's volleyball team won two dramatic five-set matches on Friday, the Golden Tornadoes lost two five-set heartbreakers on Saturday to finish up their play in New York over the weekend.  Geneva opened the day with a loss to Johnson & Wales 25-21, 18-25, 25-23, 22-25, 13-15, and the Golden Tornadoes followed that up with a loss at St. John Fisher 25-19, 26-24, 18-25, 17-25, 10-15.  The losses snapped Geneva's six-match winning streak and dropped its overall record to 9-6.

In Geneva's opening match of the day against Johnson & Wales, the first set proved to be a tight affair.  Neither team led by more than two points in the set until the Golden Tornadoes reeled off four straight points, the last on a kill by senior Quinn McCracken (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver County Christian) to take a 20-17 lead.  Geneva held on from there, 25-21, as junior Anthony Baronio (Ambridge, Pa./Ambridge) had five kills and McCracken four kills in the opening set.

Johnson & Wales scored four straight points early in the second set to take a 4-1 lead.  Geneva would even the score twice in the set, but the Golden Tornadoes could never take the lead.  With the score tied at 10-10, the Wildcats went on an 8-1 run to take command of the set, 18-11, and Johnson & Wales evened the match with a 25-18 victory.

Geneva jumped ahead in the third set, with McCracken contributing back-to-back kills to take a 6-2 lead.  A minute later, two more kills by McCracken increased the Golden Tornado lead to 9-3.  The Wildcats hung around, though, closing the deficit to two points on multiple occasion, and then three straight points late pulled Johnson & Wales to within 24-23, but another kill by McCracken finished off the set, 25-23.

The Golden Tornadoes put themselves in good position early in the fourth set, using a 6-1 run to take a 10-7 lead.  However, the Wildcats pulled even on four different occasions over the next several minutes, and with the score tied at 20-20, Johnson & Wales finished the set with a 5-2 run to send the match to a fifth set.

Once again Geneva looked to be in great shape early in the final set.  Two kills by Baronio and an ace by junior Dan Townsend (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver County Christian) gave the Golden Tornadoes a 6-1 lead, and Geneva pushed that lead to 8-2 a moment later.  However, the Golden Tornadoes couldn't finish.  With Geneva leading 12-9, Johnson & Wales closed the match on a 6-1 run to steal away the victory, 15-13.

McCracken finished the match with a school-record 26 kills on a .340 hitting percentage, adding 10 digs.  Baronio contributed 17 kills himself, along with 25 assists and eight digs.  Townsend added 11 digs and four kills, while freshman Byron Spear (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills) led the team with eight blocks.  Freshman Curtis Thomas (Arlington Heights, Ill./Christian Heritage Academy) added 22 assists.  Johnson & Wales outhit Geneva .285 to .239.

Geneva then made the quick trip over to St. John Fisher to take on a Cardinals team that entered with an impressive 10-1 record.  Despite that, the Golden Tornadoes had the better of the play in the first set.  Geneva opened with four straight points, the last on a kill from sophomore Peter Barbato (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver County Christian).  St. John Fisher answered right back with five straight points, but McCracken responded with three kills and Barbato two kills over the next several minutes to give Geneva a 17-13 lead.  The Cardinals would pull to within two points, 21-19, but the Golden Tornadoes closed the set with the final four points, one on a McCracken kill and another on an ace from freshman Jake Williams (North Huntingdon, Pa./Norwin), 25-19.

The second set went back-and-forth.  St. John Fisher used a 5-1 run to take an 11-8 lead, but Geneva immediately tied the set at 11-11 on kills from McCracken and Townsend and an ace by Baronio.  Neither team could gain much of a lead over the next few minutes until St. John Fisher scored four straight to take a 21-17 lead, and the Cardinals looked to be in full control at that point.  However, Geneva quickly tied up the score at 22-22, and after St. John Fisher scored twice to give the Cardinals two set points, the Golden Tornadoes finished the set with four straight points, the last on a kill from Baronio, to enable Geneva to steal the set away, 26-24.

Unfortunately, Geneva couldn't find win that elusive third set it needed for victory.  St. John Fisher scored four straight points early in the next set to go ahead 7-3, and the Golden Tornadoes never got closer than three points the rest of the way.  The Cardinals built their lead to 18-10 before closing out the set, 25-18.

Geneva put itself in good shape early in the fourth set, with Baronio picking up three kills to give Geneva an 8-3 lead.  The Golden Tornadoes pushed their lead to 14-8 on another kill from Baronio, but that was as good as it would get.  With Geneva leading 16-12, the Cardinals closed the set with a 13-1 run, including ten straight points at one point, to win 25-17.  The only point for Geneva in that stretch was on a service error by St. John Fisher.

Once again, though, Geneva gave itself a chance to win the match in the fifth set, as it had all day.  The Golden Tornadoes held a 9-8 lead, but Geneva faltered at the end, allowing St. John Fisher to finish the set, and the match, on a 7-1 run, giving the Golden Tornadoes another heartbreaking loss on the day, 15-10.

McCracken finished off a tremendous weekend with 18 kills in the match, giving the senior 86 kills in Geneva's four matches.  Baronio also played at a high level all weekend, finishing with 13 kills, 22 assists and 16 digs, his second triple-double of the weekend.  Barbato added 12 kills, while Townsend contributed 16 digs and six kills.  Thomas finished with 22 assists.  As a team Geneva hit .169 compared to .225 for St. John Fisher.

"I thought we actually played some of our best volleyball of the season today, despite the losses," said Head Coach Curt Conser.  "It's obviously very disappointing not to win either of these matches, but these were two pretty good teams we played today, especially St. John Fisher.  However, when you put yourself in position to win matches like we did today, going up 2-1 on Johnson & Wales and 2-0 on St. John Fisher, you have to find a way to close the match out."

Geneva heads home and will begin a stretch where the Golden Tornadoes have six of their next seven matches at home, beginning with a tri-match on Wednesday against Mount Union at 4:00 p.m. and Saint Vincent at 8:00 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.