PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The Geneva College women's volleyball team saw its season come to an end on Tuesday night in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Quarterfinals. The third-seeded Chatham Cougars defeated the sixth-seeded Golden Tornadoes in four sets 25-22, 20-25, 25-14, 25-16. Geneva's season ends with a 13-17 record, while Chatham moves on to face second-seeded Bethany in the PAC Semifinals on Thursday.
Geneva struggled with errors in the first set, with Chatham's first five points coming courtesy Geneva errors, including three service errors by the Golden Tornadoes. Chatham eventually built itself a 16-10 lead before Geneva tried to rally, but every time the Golden Tornadoes strung a couple of points together, an error would end the rally and prevent Geneva from coming all the way back. The Golden Tornadoes would pull as close as 24-22, but Chatham closed out the set with the final point, 25-22.
Geneva used three straight points early in the second set on a kill and an ace from freshman Megan Veon (New Castle, Pa./Mohawk) and a kill from sophomore Samantha Peachey (Colorado Springs, Colo./Liberty) to take an early 4-3 lead. The two teams traded points back and forth before the Golden Tornadoes strung together five straight points behind the serving of freshman Lydia Wilson (New Springfield, Ohio/Heartland Christian), giving Geneva a 15-12 lead. Wilson had an ace and Peachey a kill in the run. The Cougars would battle back to even the set at 20-20, but the Golden Tornadoes scored the last five points of the set. Freshman Calyne Schmidt (Lacey, Wash./North Thurston) had three kills in the run, including the final point, 25-20. Unfortunately, things really fell apart from there.
Chatham scored the first three points of the third set and never looked back. A few minutes later the Cougars scored six straight to take a 15-5 lead, and Chatham easily finished out the set, 25-14, as the Cougars finished with a .341 hitting percentage.
The fourth set was just as rough for Geneva. The Cougars opened the final set with seven straight points, and a moment later, Chatham extended the lead to 12-2. Geneva would battle back within five points after a block and a kill from Veon and an ace from Wilson, closing within 15-10, but that was as close as the Golden Tornadoes would get. The Cougars finished out the match from there, 25-16. Chatham hit an even better .400 in the final set.
Schmidt led the way with 13 kills in the match, on a .333 hitting percentage. Freshman Kami Mummau (Mount Joy, Pa./Mount Calvary Christian) had eight kills, and Veon and Peachey finished with seven kills apiece. Peachey added 15 assists and a team-high 16 digs, while Veon contributed six blocks and two aces. Wilson added 16 assists and two aces. Three Cougars finished with double-digit kills, led by Amelia Bogovich's 18 kills.
"It's always hard to see your season end, and it especially hurts when you feel like you did a lot in the match to hurt yourself that contributed to the loss," said Head Coach Wendy Smith. "Take nothing away from Chatham, though, who was the better team tonight and deserved to win. This was a challenging year in a lot of ways, but I'm proud of the effort this team put forth over the season, and this young squad came a long way from where we were at the beginning of the year. You always want to improve more quickly than you do sometimes, but the talent is here, and if this team sticks together and puts in the work, I'm really confident brighter days are ahead. But it always hurts when that final loss comes."
Geneva doesn't have a single senior on this year's roster, and junior Maggie Townsend (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver County Christian) is the primary junior that sees significant playing time, with six freshmen and three sophomores, along with Townsend, comprising the bulk of the playing rotation of the team. So indeed, the future does look bright for this young group of Golden Tornadoes in the upcoming years.
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).
