BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – Things started well for the Geneva College men's volleyball team against Hiram on Saturday afternoon, with the Golden Tornadoes winning the first two sets.  Unfortunately, not even a career day from junior Peter Barbato (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver County Christian), who tied the school record in kills, and sophomore Curtis Thomas (Arlington Heights, Ill./Christian Heritage Academy), who set the school record in assists, was enough to keep Geneva from faltering late, as the Terriers came all the way back to defeat the Golden Tornadoes 3-2 (22-25, 15-25, 25-22, 25-21, 15-11).  It was Hiram's first match of the season, while Geneva fell to 2-5.  The game did not count in the conference standings.

Geneva figured to have the advantage coming into the match, having already played six times while Hiram was opening its season.  It showed early, with the Golden Tornadoes scoring the first seven points of the match behind the serving of Thomas, who had two aces, and three kills from Barbato.  Hiram responded to pull within two points, 8-6, but Geneva pushed the lead back to 18-12.  The Terriers would answer with a run to get within 20-19, but the Golden Tornadoes managed to hold on, with Thomas providing another ace for the final point, 25-22.

Geneva led the entire second set.  Senior Dan Townsend (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver County Christian) and freshman Carter Milroy (Colorado Springs, Colo./TCA College Pathways) picked up early kills, and a moment later back-to-back kills from sophomore Byron Spear (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills) gave the Golden Tornadoes an 8-4 lead.  Hiram pulled to within 10-9, but Geneva put the set away with a 12-3 run, with Barbato adding three kills and an ace in the stretch.  The Golden Tornadoes finished off the set, 25-15 on a kill from Spear.  The set was one of Geneva's better so far this season.

Unfortunately, the momentum stopped there.  Hiram scored three straight points to take a 3-1 lead in the third set.  A moment later the Terriers extended the lead to 8-4, and Geneva could never get closer than two points the rest of the way, with the Terriers proving particularly effective right up the middle, and the Golden Tornadoes struggling with service errors that never let Geneva make a run.  Hiram won the set 25-22, with the final point fittingly coming on a Geneva service error.  The Golden Tornadoes finished the set with seven service errors, while Hiram hit .520 in the set.

The Golden Tornadoes did take an early 10-7 lead in the fourth set, but Hiram used a 6-1 run to retake the lead.  Both teams traded points over the next few minutes until Hiram put together another 6-1 run to take a 22-19 lead, and Geneva could never answer in losing the fourth set, 25-21.  Geneva made 10 hitting errors in the set.

A kill by Barbato opened the scoring in the fifth set, but Hiram answered with three straight points, and the Golden Tornadoes never led again.  The Terriers finished the set off well.  With Hiram clinging to a 9-8 lead, the Terriers reeled off five straight points to go ahead 14-8, and Hiram closed out the match, 15-11.

"It's just really frustrating to still not be able to figure this thing out," said Head Coach Curt Conser.  "I feel like it's the same problems each match.  We actually played really well offensively at times in this match, well enough to win if we don't let other parts of our game disintegrate at key times in the match.  We should have swept the match if we don't have seven service errors in the third set, which was more than we had in the other four sets combined.  Then we had 10 hitting errors in the fourth set, almost as many as we had the whole rest of the match.  It's those sorts of things that prevent us from beating solid teams like Hiram."

Barbato finished with 26 kills, on a .317 hitting percentage, which tied him with Quinn McCracken for the most Geneva kills in a single match.  He also added 12 digs.  Spear also set a career high with 11 kills.  Thomas added a school-record 50 assists, while Townsend led the team with 20 digs.  As a team Geneva hit .216, but the Golden Tornadoes particularly struggled in the final two sets.  Hiram finished with a .245 hitting percentage.

Geneva will be back in action next Friday when the Golden Tornadoes host Penn State Behrend at 7:30 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.