BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – February certainly wasn't the best month for the Geneva College men's volleyball team, but the Golden Tornadoes made sure March got off to a much better start with an impressive victory over Penn State Behrend in four sets 25-17, 21-25, 25-22, 25-16.  The victory was Geneva's first in Metheny Fieldhouse this season, improving its record to 3-5, while Penn State Behrend dropped to 0-1.

Despite both teams playing the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC), the match was not part of the conference schedule.  Penn State Behrend was taking the floor for the first time in this COVID-shortened season, while Geneva came in having lost five of its last six matches.  In addition, Penn State Behrend came in as one of the favorites in the AMCC, so the Golden Tornadoes knew this would present an important test as they anticipate conference play starting next weekend.

The Lions appeared rusty early on, as one might expect from a team in their first match of the season, and Geneva took advantage.  The first five points the Golden Tornadoes scored were all on Penn State Behrend errors, with sophomore Byron Spear (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills) picking up Geneva's first kill of the match to give the Golden Tornadoes an early 6-2 lead.  A moment later, back-to-back kills by Spear increased the Geneva lead to 8-3.  The Lions never got closer than four points the rest of the set, as Penn State Behrend had no answers for Spear, junior Peter Barbato (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver County Christian) or freshman Carter Milroy (Colorado Springs, Colo./TCA College Pathways).  Geneva steadily increased its lead and never let up, winning 25-17 while hitting .429 with 11 kills in the set.

Geneva jumped ahead early in the second set as well, as Milroy and Barbato picked up kills in a run of four straight points to give the Golden Tornadoes a 4-1 lead.  The Lions answered with four straight points to retake the lead, but a 6-1 run a couple minutes later pushed Geneva back ahead, 12-8.  Sophomore Jake Williams (North Huntingdon, Pa./Norwin), senior Dan Townsend (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver County Christian), sophomore Curtis Thomas (Arlington Heights, Ill./Christian Heritage Academy) and Barbato all picked up kills.  Geneva still led 17-13 after a kill by Barbato before things fell apart.  Penn State Behrend put together a 10-1 run to take control of the set, 23-18, and the Lions finished off the set 25-21.  Geneva hit just .103 with seven hitting errors and four service errors in the set.

The third set proved tight early on.  Neither team led by more than two points until Geneva put together a 6-1 run to take a 16-13 lead.  Spear, Townsend, Thomas and sophomore Wes Hoge (Venetia, Pa./Seton LaSalle) all contributed kills in the stretch.  Penn State Behrend would battle back again, though, knotting the score at 18-18.  Each team traded points for the next three minutes, but with the set tied 21-21, Geneva found a final push, closing the set out on a 4-1 run to win 25-22.  The Golden Tornadoes finished with a .314 hitting percentage and 14 kills.

The Lions held a brief early lead in the fourth set, the last time at 5-4.  That's when Geneva scored four straight, the final point a kill from Townsend, to retake the lead, 8-4.  The Golden Tornadoes never let Penn State Behrend back into the set.  A few minutes later, Geneva scored four more straight points, the last on a kill by Spear, to extend its lead to 16-10.  After two Lions points, four more straight Golden Tornado points extended Geneva's lead 20-12, and the Golden Tornadoes cruised to a 25-16 to close out the match.  The Golden Tornadoes finished that set with 11 kills and a .357 hitting percentage.

The Golden Tornadoes received a very balanced offensive attack, something that had been lacking at times in earlier matches this season.  Spear and Milroy both had career highs in kills, with 12 and 11 respectively, while Barbato also added 12 kills.  Spear also contributed five blocks, including two solo blocks.  Thomas added 34 assists, while Townsend had six kills and a team-high 19 digs.  As a team, Geneva hit .276, while the Lions finished at just .150.

"I thought tonight some things that we've really been working on in practice finally came to fruition," said Head Coach Curt Conser.  "Specifically, we need to limit our errors and get our middles more involved in the attack, and we did that tonight.  We're a much better team when we are more balanced offensively, and Byron and Carter really gave us a boost tonight.  I always want the middle to be an important part of our attack, and I thought tonight we did a much better job there.  There's still a number of things we need to improve on, but after a really ugly month in February, this was a good result to see from our guys, especially with conference play just about to start."

The Golden Tornadoes host Saint Vincent on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. before opening AMCC play next Saturday with a 2:00 p.m. match at Hilbert, who is new to the conference this season.


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.