BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – The Geneva College women's volleyball team suffered another frustrating five-set loss on Tuesday evening inside Metheny Fieldhouse, this one coming at the hands of Thiel, and the loss officially eliminated the Golden Tornadoes from postseason contention. The Golden Tornadoes rallied from a two-set deficit before eventually falling 19-25, 21-25, 25-18, 25-23, 9-15. Geneva's record is now 8-16 overall, 2-6 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC), while Thiel improved to 16-10, 7-1 in the PAC.
Tuesday night's match was a much closer contest than the matchup between these two teams a month ago, when the Tomcats cruised in three sets over the Golden Tornadoes. The Tomcats did take the early lead, though, powered by one of the PAC's leading hitters in Maria Torres. Thiel never trailed in the first set, using a four-point run to take an 11-6 lead, and the Tomcats pulled away for a 25-19 win.
Geneva used a four-point run early in the second set, with senior Hope Shook picking up an early kill, to give the Golden Tornadoes a 5-1 advantage. Geneva stretched its lead to 9-4 on a kill from junior Samantha Peachey before Thiel rallied. The Tomcats used a 9-2 run to take a 13-11 lead. Thiel then used a six-point run to take control of the set, 22-15, and the Tomcats closed out the set 25-21. Torres had 16 kills for Thiel in the first two sets, with just one error.
Back-to-back blocks from sophomore Megan Veon got Geneva off to a good start in the third set, with kills from Veon and Shook giving the Golden Tornadoes an 8-3 advantage. Back-to-back kills from freshman Liz Samuelsen pushed the Geneva edge to 11-5. Thiel would close within 13-11 before three kills and an ace from junior Tess Neville helped the Golden Tornadoes extend the lead back out to 19-12, and a double block from Veon and Samuelsen finished off the set, 25-18.
Geneva dominated the early part of the fourth set. Three kills from Veon and two from Shook gave the Golden Tornadoes a 7-2 lead, and a minute later back-to-back kills from Samuelsen extended the advantage to 11-3. It looked like Geneva was going to cruise to an easy win after another kill from Veon gave the Golden Tornadoes a 20-9 lead. Thiel stormed back, though, pulling all the way within 24-23 before a Tomcat attack error gave Geneva the set, 25-23.
Thiel carried its momentum from the fourth set into the final set, though. The Tomcats scored the first three points on their way to a 7-2 lead, and Geneva could never claw back into the set, falling 15-9.
Veon led the team with 16 kills, along with eight blocks, while Shook added 10 kills and five blocks, including her 500th career kill. Freshman Ashley Monroe led the team with 18 assists, while senior Maggie Townsend and freshman Heather Seubert each had 23 digs. Torres led the Tomcats with 27 kills.
Geneva has two more matches left in the season, beginning with a Senior Night match inside Metheny Fieldhouse on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. against Franciscan. The women will recognize their three seniors in Shook, Townsend and Natalie Parra before the game. The Golden Tornadoes then wrap up the season at Saint Vincent on Saturday.
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).
