ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Geneva College men's volleyball team wrapped up its season-opening weekend in New York at St. John Fisher College, dropping a straight set (25-17, 25-16, 25-10) match to a very strong Cardinals squad. Geneva's record now stands at 1-2.
Senior Peter Barbato (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver County Christian) opened the first set with a kill, and a moment later, four straight Geneva points, started by a block from junior Byron Spear (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills) and sophomore Emerson Spear (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills), and capped off by kills from Emerson Spear and sophomore Carter Milroy (Colorado Springs, Colo./TCA College Pathways), gave the Golden Tornadoes a 6-4 lead. However, St. John Fisher scored the next eight points to take a 12-6 lead. Geneva pulled within one, 18-17, on back-to-back blocks from Emerson Spear and junior Jake Williams (North Huntingdon, Pa./Norwin) and Emerson and Byron Spear, but the Cardinals scored the last seven points of the set to win 25-17.
Geneva's block continued to be effective early in the second set with Emerson Spear picking up a solo block, followed by a block from Emerson and Byron Spear, helping Geneva take an early 3-0 lead. With the Golden Tornadoes leading 5-4, though, St. John Fisher scored five straight points as part of a 9-1 run to take a 13-6 lead. St. John Fisher steadily pulled away to win 25-16.
Barbato scored the first point of the third set on a kill, but things fell apart quickly for the Golden Tornadoes. With St. John Fisher lead 7-4, the Cardinals went on a 14-2 run to take a 21-6 lead, and St. John Fisher closed out the match, 25-10.
Barbato led the team with 10 kills, but Geneva finished with just 18 kills total on an .069 hitting percentage. Emerson Spear finished with six blocks, while Byron Spear added four blocks. Freshman Joshua Sangrey (Landisburg, Pa./Homeschool) had a team-high nine digs. Josh Bigford led the Cardinals with 15 kills as St. John Fisher hit .280 as a team.
"I thought we actually played a little better today than we did yesterday, but we really struggled with our ball control, especially our serve-receive," said Head Coach Curt Conser. "Peter swung it well, and I thought overall in the first two sets our hitters made pretty good decisions, we just didn't give ourselves enough chances because we didn't control the ball well defensively. Our block was pretty effective today too, but St. John Fisher is one of the better teams we will face all year and you can't beat a team like that without good ball control."
The Golden Tornadoes will be back in action on Wednesday when Geneva hosts Mount Union at 7:00 p.m. in Metheny Fieldhouse. The St. Norbert match was cancelled because of COVID protocols within the St. Norbert program.
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).
