BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – It wasn't pretty at times, and there were moments when the outcome didn't look like it would end well, but in the end the Geneva College men's volleyball team found a way to overcome a number of errors and prevail in a tight five-set match at home against Penn State Altoona 25-27, 25-21, 19-25, 25-23, 15-11.  With the victory the Golden Tornadoes evened their record at 5-5 overall, while notching their first win in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) to move to 1-0.  Penn State Altoona lost their season-opening match to drop to 0-1 overall, 0-1 in the AMCC.

Errors were a common theme for both teams throughout the match, and the mistakes started early in set one.  The set went back-and-forth, with each team committing as many errors as they earned kills.  Neither team led by more than two points until Geneva strung together three straight points on a kill each from freshman Carter Milroy (Colorado Springs, Colo./TCA College Pathways) and senior Dan Townsend (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver County Christian), sandwiched around a Penn State Altoona error to give the Golden Tornadoes a 19-16 lead.  However, the Lions answered right back with three points to even the set.  Geneva got to set point, 24-23, but Penn State Altoona finished the set on a 4-1 run to take the set, 27-25.  The Golden Tornadoes had six service errors in the set.

The second set was close early on as well.  Back-to-back kills by junior Peter Barbato (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver County Christian) and Townsend gave Geneva a 4-2 lead, but Penn State Altoona fought back and regained the lead 8-7.  The Golden Tornadoes responded with one of their best stretches all night, outscoring the Lions 8-1 over the next five minutes, including six straight points behind the serving of sophomore Curtis Thomas (Arlington Heights, Ill./Christian Heritage Academy).  Thomas contributed an ace and Barbato two kills in the run to give Geneva a 15-9 advantage.  Penn State Altoona continued to hang tough, though, closing to within two points four different times, the last time coming at 23-21.  However, the Golden Tornadoes were able to close out the set on two Lion errors to win, 25-21.

Penn State Altoona was the team that played better in the third set, jumping out to a 10-5 lead after four straight points, forcing Geneva to play from behind the whole set.  The Golden Tornadoes closed to within two points twice, but the Lions eventually extended their lead to 19-12 before eventually finishing off the set, 25-19.  Geneva hit just .105 in the set, their worst in the match, while Penn State Altoona countered with their best hitting percentage of any set in the match, .300.

Geneva jumped ahead 8-5 early in set four, as Head Coach Curt Conser made a switch by moving sophomore Jake Williams (North Huntingdon, Pa./Irwin) into the libero spot and bringing freshman Emerson Spear (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills) into the front row rotation.   Penn State Altoona answered back with a 6-1 run to take an 11-9 lead.  The next several minutes the lead changed hands multiple times, and after three straight points gave the Lions a 21-19 lead, things did not look good.  However, trailing 22-20, Geneva rallied, thanks in part to some Penn State Altoona hitting errors, and Milroy and Barbato finished off the set with a block, 25-23, sending the match to a fifth set.

It was Geneva that took control of the final fifth set early.  With the score tied 3-3, the Golden Tornadoes used a 6-2 run to take a 9-5 lead, with Milroy picking up an ace, a kill and two blocks.  Penn State Altoona used a 4-1 run late to pull within 13-11, but kills by Milroy and Townsend finished off the match, 15-11.  Geneva had its best hitting percentage of the night, finishing the set at .421.

Barbato led four players in double-digit kills with 15, while sophomore Byron Spear (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills) added 11 kills.  Townsend finished with 10 kills and 14 digs, while Milroy added 10 kills and seven blocks.  Thomas led Geneva with 47 assists and 15 digs.  Penn State Altoona finished with a slightly better hitting percentage, .221 to .205, while each team committed 17 service errors.

"It was certainly frustrating at times tonight," said Conser.  "We came into tonight's match a little blind because Penn State Altoona hadn't played yet and they had so many new faces on their roster.  So we tried to focus on trying to take care of our own business, and we didn't do that very well at times.  Give credit to Altoona, who clearly has some good young talent.  But we were far too error prone at times tonight, which has been a consistent problem this year. 

"That said, give our guys credit for finding a way to get it to a fifth set even though we weren't playing our best.  Then in the fifth set, we played really well.  Carter was huge with two kills, three blocks and an ace.  Peter, Dan and Byron each had two kills, and Dan was particularly clutch for us at key times tonight.  And Jake played great in the libero role in that final set, picking up five digs and saving us some points.  So as has been the case a lot this season, there are some things to be pleased about and some other things we have to improve on.  Thankfully, though, it's always better to say that after a win than a loss."

Geneva is back in action on Saturday with a home match against Thiel on Saturday at 4:30 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.