BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – Geneva College got to play a home sporting event at home on Wednesday night for the first time since last March, though no fans were allowed in to watch the men's volleyball match, due to COVID regulations by the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference.  Unfortunately, the Golden Tornadoes made too many errors on the night and dropped a five-set match to Mount Union 20-25, 25-21, 16-25, 26-24, 6-15.  Geneva's record now stands at 1-1, while Mount Union improved to 2-0.

The first set proved to be a back-and-forth affair.  Geneva struggled to contain Mount Union's top outside hitter, Justin Sibbel, who provided much of the Purple Raider offense on the night.  Despite some struggles with the Golden Tornado block against Sibbel, Geneva managed to hang around, and the score was even tied at 19-19 after three straight Golden Tornado points.  However, Mount Union finished the set on a 6-1 run to win 25-20.

A kill by junior Peter Barbato (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver County Christian) got Geneva off to a 3-0 start in the second set.  Mount Union evened the score at 6-6, but the Golden Tornadoes responded with six straight points, due in large part to the defensive work of sophomore Byron Spear's (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills) play at the net, with Spear picking up three blocks in the run.  Mount Union was able to close within two points late in the set, but a kill by Barbato finished off the set 25-21.

The third set was over almost as soon as it started.  Mount Union scored the first 10 points of the set as Geneva could do seemingly nothing right, and the hole proved too much to climb out of as the Golden Tornadoes dropped the set 25-16.

Sophomore Jake Williams (North Huntingdon, Pa./Norwin) helped Geneva get off to a much better start in the fourth set.  Williams picked up two kills and an ace in helping give the Golden Tornadoes take an early 8-5 lead.  The Purple Raiders managed to tie the set later on, but Geneva appeared to be in good shape when it pulled ahead 19-15 after three straight points.  However, Mount Union answered with five straight points to take its first lead of the set, 20-19.  After each team traded points, Geneva scored three straight, one on a kill by senior Dan Townsend (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver County Christian) and another on a block from Spear to push Geneva ahead 23-21.  Mount Union was able to stave off two set points to get the set tied at 24-24, but a kill by Spear and an attack error by Sibbel enabled the Golden Tornadoes to hold and even the match with a 26-24 win, sending things to a final set.

The wheels came off quickly for Geneva in the final set.  With the score tied 2-2, Mount Union went on a 7-2 run, and the Golden Tornadoes were unable to mount a comeback, falling 15-6 to pick up their first loss of the young season.

Mount Union did significant damage with their hitting, finishing with 66 kills on a .333 hitting percentage, led by Sibbel's 25 kills, compared to just 37 kills on a .135 hitting percentage for Geneva.  Barbato led the offense with 13 kills, while Williams added seven kills.  Sophomore Curtis Thomas (Arlington Heights, Ill./Christian Heritage Academy) had 30 assists, Townsend had 11 digs, and Spear six blocks to lead Geneva.

"We played two fairly decent sets and three really poor sets," said Head Coach Curt Conser.  "There were some moments in the match where we played well, but overall we just made too many mistakes.  We can be outhit and still win matches by doing all the other things well, but we weren't nearly good enough in those areas.  To be honest, with how poorly we played during long stretches tonight, we were probably fortunate to get it to five sets, and we definitely didn't play well enough to deserve to win the match."

Geneva returns to action on Saturday for a 2:00 p.m. contest against Lancaster Bible in Metheny Fieldhouse.


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.