VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – The Geneva College women's volleyball team played better on Saturday after a tough first day at the Virginia Wesleyan tournament, and the Golden Tornadoes pushed William Peace to five sets in their first match of the day before succumbing to the Pacers 18-25, 21-25, 25-22, 25-23, 15-11.  Geneva then dropped a straight set match to a very talented Mary Washington squad to wrap up play over the weekend 19-25, 15-25, 25-22.

Senior Megan Veon opened the first match of the day against William Peace with a kill, which proved to be a sign of things to come, but the Pacers responded with a 5-1 run to take control of the set.  William Peace eventually stretched its lead to 14-6 on the way to a 25-18 first-set win.

A kill on a setter attack by graduate student Savannah Byers gave Geneva a 3-2 lead early in the second set, and the Golden Tornadoes led for most of the early part of the set, pushing their lead to two points on several occasions, the last on an ace from junior Evelyn Stroup to give Geneva a 10-8 advantage.  A few minutes later, with the score tied at 15-15, William Peace scored three straight, forcing the Golden Tornadoes to play from behind.  Geneva pulled within one point, 19-18, on an ace by freshman Laura Goonewardene, but the Pacers held on for a 25-21 win.

Geneva got off to a great start in the third set, and back-to-back kills from Veon gave the women an early 6-1 lead.  William Peace rallied, though, pulling even several times during the middle part of the set, but the Golden Tornadoes never allowed the Pacers take the lead.  The last tie came at 15-15, after which Geneva scored four straight points, the last on a kill from junior Abigail Glumac.  The women stretched their lead to 23-16 after four straight points, with a kill from Glumac, an ace from junior Heather Seubert, a kill from freshman Madi DeRuiter and a kill from Byers accounting for the points.  Geneva then had to hold off a late run from William Peace before securing the set win, 25-22, on a kill from sophomore Gracyn Lee.

The fourth set was back-and-forth for most of the set.  The score stayed within one point for almost the entire set until the very end.  Trailing 19-18, Geneva scored three straight to grab its first two-point lead of the set.  A minute later, an ace from sophomore Brooklen Helton pushed the edge to 23-20, and a Pacer attack error gave the Golden Tornadoes the final point, 25-23, to send the match to a fifth and final set.

Geneva scored the first three points of the fifth set on a kill from Veon and back-to-back aces from Goonewardene, but the Golden Tornadoes could not sustain things.  William Peace scored the next three points to pull even, and after another Veon kill, the Pacers put together a 7-1 run to take control of the final set, eventually extending its lead to 14-5 to get to match point.  Geneva had one last rally attempt, scoring the next six points, but William Peace eventually secured the final point to win 15-11.

Veon was the offensive force for the women in the match, finishing with 19 kills on a .288 hitting percentage, to go along with 12 digs.  Goonewardene directed the attack with 25 assists, while also contributing 13 digs.  Senior Zoe Pifer led the team with 23 digs, while Lee led a strong block with a career-best five blocks.

Geneva turned around shortly after the long five-set loss and had to face a Mary Washington team that advanced to the third round of NCAA National Tournament last year and was the most talented squad the women would face over the weekend.  Despite that, Geneva jumped ahead 5-2 in the first set behind kills from Veon and Lee, an ace from Pifer and a double block from Glumac and Seboe.  The Golden Tornadoes still led 13-10 before the Eagles rallied.  Mary Washington followed with an 8-1 run to go up 18-14.  Geneva scored the next three points to pull within one point, but the Eagles finished the set on a 7-2 run to win 25-19.

Geneva hung with Mary Washington early in the second set as well.  An ace from Veon and kill from Pratt allowed the women to grab a 9-8 lead early in the set, but a five-point run by the Eagles gave Mary Washington a 13-9 edge.  The Golden Tornadoes pulled within two, 16-14, on a kill from DeRuiter, but the Eagles closed the set on a 9-1 run to win 25-15.

Once again, the women played well early in the third set.  A 7-1 run in the opening minutes, behind three aces from Helton and two kills and a block from Veon, gave Geneva an 8-4 advantage.  The Eagles had a response, though, answering with a 10-1 run to grab the lead, 14-9.  The Golden Tornadoes tried to rally late, pulling with two on a kill from Veon, but Mary Washington scored the final point to close out the match, 25-22.

Veon again led the attack with 11 kills, while Goonewardene had a team-high 14 assists.  Pifer once again reached double figures in digs with ten.

Geneva will return to action next weekend when the Golden Tornadoes head to Penn State Behrend for two matches each on Friday and Saturday.