BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – The Geneva College men's volleyball team hosted perennial power Juniata, ranked #15 in Division III, in Metheny Fieldhouse on Saturday afternoon.  The Golden Tornadoes battled, but Geneva could never get its attack working and was swept by the Eagles 25-17, 25-20, 25-19.  The match was the first of the season for Juniata, moving its record to 1-0, while Geneva fell to 1-3.

Head Coach Curt Conser put together a challenging non-conference schedule for the Golden Tornadoes, who are the only Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference school who has started playing so far.  Juniata represented arguably the toughest squad on Geneva's non-conference schedule, and the Eagles proved to be as good as advertised, despite it being Juniata's first match of the season.

Sophomore Jake Williams (North Huntingdon, Pa./Norwin) got Geneva on the board first with a kill to open the match.  However, with Geneva leading 2-1, Juniata took full control of the set with an 11-1 run, giving the Eagles a 12-3 lead.  The deficit was too much to overcome for the Golden Tornadoes, despite multiple kills from junior Peter Barbato (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver County Christian) and sophomore Byron Spear (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills) later in the set, with Juniata winning 25-17.

Juniata jumped out early in the second set, taking an 8-4 lead.  Geneva responded with its best stretch of the day.  Behind the serving of Williams, the Golden Tornadoes reeled off seven straight points.  Williams had two aces, while senior Dan Townsend (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver County Christian) added two kills in the stretch.  Unfortunately, with Geneva leading 14-11, Juniata scored seven of the next eight points to regain the lead, 18-15, and the Golden Tornadoes couldn't answer back in dropping the set, 25-20.

Barbato got Geneva on the board first with a kill in the third set, and the Golden Tornadoes maintained the lead, 8-7, after two kills from Williams.  However, as Juniata had done all match, the Eagles put together a run to take command of the set.  Juniata scored seven straight points to take a 14-8 lead, and despite pulling to within 17-15, the Golden Tornadoes couldn't come all the way back, dropping the set, and the match, 25-19.

"Juniata is obviously a really strong team," said Conser.  "We knew coming into the match that we'd have to play really well, and we just made too many hitting errors.  Give credit to Juniata for a really strong block, but you can't have as many errors as you have kills and expect to win matches.  If we turn half those errors into kills, this is a much more competitive match.  But we have to find a way to convert those chances ourselves.  The other team is not going to give it to us."

Barbato led the team with eight kills, but the story of the match was the attack.  Juniata finished with a .273 hitting percentage, while Geneva finished at just .012, with 25 kills and 24 errors.  Williams added six kills, while Townsend had a team-high eight digs.  Sophomore Curtis Thomas (Arlington Heights, Ill./Christian Heritage Academy) had 21 assists, while Spear had a team-high three blocks.

Geneva's next match will be a road contest at Thiel next Thursday, February 18, at 7:00 p.m.  The matchup between the two schools will be considered a non-conference match, with the conference schedule slated to start later in the season.  The Golden Tornadoes won't be back home until Saturday, February 27, when Geneva hosts Hiram at 2:00 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.