ALLIANCE, Ohio – Things started well in the first set for the Geneva College men's volleyball team in its match at Mount Union on Wednesday night.  Things went downhill quickly, though, for the Golden Tornadoes.  Mount Union took the final three sets to defeat Geneva 3-1 (18-25, 25-20, 25-22, 25-17).  Mount Union improved to 5-2, while Geneva fell to 2-4.

Geneva appeared to catch a break when Mount Union's setter, Jeremy Leyden, who had 57 assists in the Raiders' five-set victory over the Golden Tornadoes earlier this year, didn't dress for the match.  Geneva took advantage early, with a kill from sophomore Jake Williams (North Huntingdon, Pa./Norwin) and an ace from junior Peter Barbato (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver County Christian) giving the Golden Tornadoes an early 4-1 lead.  A few moments later, two kills from Barbato and a kill from senior Dan Townsend (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver County Christian) extended Geneva's lead to 12-5.  The Golden Tornadoes eventually built their lead to 24-14 before finally finishing off the set, 25-18, on a Mount Union attack error.

Unfortunately for Geneva, that's where the good play stopped.  Mount Union opened the second set with four straight points.  The Golden Tornadoes managed to tie the game back up twice, the last at 11-11, but the Raiders strung together an 8-1 run to take a big 19-12 lead.  Geneva pulled to within 23-20 after three straight kills by Barbato, but Mount Union finished off the set, 25-20.  Hitting errors were a big problem in the set, with Geneva finishing with 11 errors and a negative .053 hitting percentage.

The third set was a true back-and-forth affair.  The teams traded the lead throughout the set, with neither team leading by more than two points.  A kill by Townsend knotted the score for the 15^th time in the set, 22-22, but Mount Union took the last three points of the set to win 25-22.  Five service errors were particularly costly for Geneva in the set.

The Raiders took control of the fourth set early.  After Geneva took a brief 4-2 lead, Mount Union reeled off five straight points.  A minute later, the Raiders used a 6-1 run to take a 13-7 lead.  The Golden Tornadoes would pull to within three, 16-13, on a kill by freshman Carter Milroy (Colorado Springs, Colo./TCA College Pathways), but that was as close as Geneva would get.  Five straight points by Mount Union effectively finished off the set, and the Raiders closed out the final set, and the match, 25-17.  Geneva hit negative .125 in the set.

"This was a really frustrating match," said Head Coach Curt Conser.  "We caught a break when Leyden didn't play, but we didn't play anywhere near well enough to take advantage of it.  The first set was solid, though even then we didn't really play great.  The second set we had way too many hitting errors, and the third set we gave away with service errors.  Then we just could never regain our play the final set.  We are just making far too many errors to win matches.  If we want to have success this season, we have to do just about everything better, from hitting, to setting, to blocking and ball control."

Barbato led the team with 12 kills, while Townsend finished with eight kills, on a .316 hitting percentage, and 13 digs.  Williams added nine kills and 11 digs.  As a team, Geneva hit just .050 for the match, with 30 hitting errors, while Mount Union finished with a .183 hitting percentage.

Up next for the Golden Tornadoes is a home match on Saturday against Hiram at 2:00 p.m.  The match will not count in the conference standings.


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.