WOOSTER, Ohio – A night after the Geneva women's volleyball team knocked off John Carroll for its best win of the season, the Golden Tornadoes struggled in two losses on Saturday in the Ginny Hunt Kilt Classic, hosted by Wooster. Geneva dropped its first match of the day to Roanoke in four sets (8-25, 16-25, 25-19, 22-25), and the followed that with a loss to Bluffton in straight sets (15-25, 18-25, 21-25). Geneva's record is now 3-8.
Geneva took an early lead in set one against Roanoke, 2-1, on a kill by sophomore Tess Neville (Lisbon, Ohio/Crestview) and a block from junior Maggie Townsend (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver County Christian) and freshman Megan Veon (New Castle, Pa./Mohawk). It was all Roanoke from there. The Maroons scored six straight points, and a few minutes later Roanoke scored 12 straight points on its way to a dominating 25-8 set.
Roanoke jumped ahead early in the second set as well, 5-2, and Geneva never could get closer than two points. A 5-1 run by the Maroons stretched their lead to 14-7, and the Golden Tornadoes never got back into the set in losing 25-16.
The third set things began to change. Geneva scored seven straight points behind the serving of Neville, who had four aces in the stretch, to give the Golden Tornadoes an 8-1 lead. A moment later four straight Geneva points, behind two kills from freshman Kami Mummau (Mount Joy, Pa./Mount Calvary Christian) and a kill and an ace from Townsend, extended the lead to 14-4. Roanoke would pull to within five points, 20-15, but the Golden Tornadoes closed out the set 25-19, the final point on a kill from Neville.
The fourth set represented one of the biggest changes one will ever see in a volleyball set. Geneva could do nothing wrong for the first half of the set, with Townsend serving the Golden Tornadoes to 12 straight points in Geneva taking a 17-2 lead. Then, as much as Geneva had dominated to that point, the Golden Tornadoes fell apart. Roanoke stormed back, and Geneva couldn't find an answer. Roanoke responded with a 19-3 run to take a 21-20 lead, and the Maroons finished off the match, 25-22.
Mummau led Geneva with ten kills, but Geneva hit just .042 as a team. Sophomore Samantha Peachey (Colorado Springs, Colo./Liberty) had 25 assists, while freshman Zoe Pifer (Keyser, W.Va./Calvary Christian) led Geneva with 16 digs. Townsend added 15 digs, while Veon contributed six kills and seven blocks.
In the second match against Bluffton, Neville served Geneva to five straight points early in the first set, with Townsend contributing back-to-back kills. That staked the Golden Tornadoes to a 6-3 lead. Geneva still led 14-12 after back-to-back kills from Neville before another disastrous stretch occurred. The Beavers scored 11 straight points and finished the set on a 13-1 run to win 25-15.
A kill by Townsend and an ace and kill by Neville gave Geneva an early 3-0 lead in set two. The Golden Tornadoes still led 7-5 after a block by Veon, but once again they couldn't sustain it. Bluffton battled back to take a 15-11 lead, and Geneva never got closer than two points the rest of the way, losing 25-18.
It was the Beavers who took control early in set three, scoring seven straight as part of a 9-1 run to open the set. Despite the big early deficit, the Golden Tornadoes had an answer. Geneva chipped away at the lead, and then the Golden Tornadoes scored six straight points midway through the set, with Neville contributing three kills, to give Geneva a 15-13 lead. Unfortunately, as has been the case too often with this young squad, inconsistency reared its head again. A 9-2 run by the Beaver gave Bluffton a 22-18 lead, and the Beavers closed out the match 25-21.
Neville led the offense with 12 kills on a .276 hitting percentage, but she didn't get a lot of help at the net. Peachey had a team-high 23 assists, while Townsend led the defense with 11 digs. Geneva hit just .071 in this match.
"I feel like today was a microcosm of our season so far," said Head Coach Wendy Smith. "There were moments of good play, but far too many stretches where we gave up big runs because of poor play. We are young, and we were playing short-handed this weekend, but that didn't stop us from playing well last night, so this was certainly a very disappointing end to this weekend."
Geneva now turns its attention to conference play, and the schedule doesn't get any easier when Geneva heads to Westminster for a tri-match with Grove City and Westminster, the two preseason favorites in the Presidents' Athletic Conference, on
Wednesday, beginning at 4:00 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 has one of the top 100 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. Geneva was founded and is governed by the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA) and is a founding member of both the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) and IACE (International Association for Christian Education).
