BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – Geneva College women's volleyball Head Coach Wendy Smith has been waiting for a complete performance from her very young squad this year, and she got their best effort on Saturday in the final regular season match of the season in sweeping rival Grove City in impressive fashion 25-15, 25-17, 25-15.  Geneva improved to 13-16, 10-8 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC), while Grove City dropped to 18-11, 11-7 in the PAC.

The women came into the final game of the regular season locked into the #6 seed for the upcoming PAC playoffs, yet they were still looking for their first signature win of the conference season, while also hoping to build momentum as they prepare for the postseason beginning next week.  The Golden Tornadoes delivered just that.

Geneva scored the opening three points of the first set, with a block from freshman Megan Veon (New Castle, Pa./Mohawk), a kill from sophomore Tess Neville (Lisbon, Ohio/Crestview) and an ace from freshman Kami Mummau (Mount Joy, Pa./Mount Calvary Christian) accounting for the three points.  It was a sign of things to come.  A moment later, a kill from Neville, an ace from sophomore Samantha Peachey (Colorado Springs, Colo./Liberty) and an assisted block from sophomore Savannah Byers (Lancaster, Pa./Conestoga Valley) and freshman Calyne Schmidt (Lacey, Wash./North Thurston) extended Geneva's lead to 8-4.  Grove City never got closer than three points the rest of the set, with the Golden Tornadoes scoring the final five points of the set to win 25-15.  Those five points came from a kill from Neville, back-to-back kills from Mummau, a kill from Schmidt and another assisted block from Byers and Schmidt.

Geneva scored four straight points early in the second set to take a 7-5 lead, with Veon and Neville contributing kills and Peachey a block.  The Wolverines managed to pull even at 13-13, but Geneva responded with seven straight points, with Veon and Neville adding kills and Mummau another ace, and the Golden Tornadoes easily finished out the set, 25-17.

Unlike earlier in the week when Geneva took a commanding two-set lead over Bethany before failing to finish off the match, the Golden Tornadoes never let up as they continued to dominate in set three.  Geneva led the entire set, and the Golden Tornadoes broke things open with six straight points midway through the set to take a 17-9 lead.  Veon had two aces, while Byers contributed a kill and a block in the run.  Geneva finished off the match with back-to-back kills from Schmidt and Veon to win convincingly, 25-15.

Neville led the offense with 12 kills, while five different players had at least five kills each.  Geneva hit .237 as a team.  The Golden Tornadoes were also effective with their block.  Byers had six blocks, including three solo blocks, while Veon added four blocks, including two solo blocks.  Geneva finished with 11 blocks as a team. 

Peachey finished with 16 assists, six kills and six digs, while freshman Lydia Wilson (New Springfield, Ohio/Heartland Christian) contributed 16 assists and 13 digs.  Junior Maggie Townsend (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver County Christian), who surpassed 1,000 career digs on Thursday, led the team with 14 digs.  Freshman Zoe Pifer (Keyser, W.Va./Calvary Christian) added 12 digs, while freshman Haley Barkovich (Aliquippa, Pa./Hopewell) finished with 10 digs.

"This was a really encouraging performance today," said Head Coach Wendy Smith.  "We needed to prove to ourselves that we could beat one of the top teams in the conference, and we did so today in dominating fashion.  We've seen glimpses all year of the type of team we can be, and this shows the team how strong we can be when we play good volleyball and avoid lots of errors.  Hopefully we can continue this play heading into the postseason."

Geneva will head onto the road on Tuesday for the first round of the PAC playoffs against against Chatham at 7:00 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 has one of the top 100 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. Geneva was founded and is governed by the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA) and is a founding member of both the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) and IACE (International Association for Christian Education).