BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – The Geneva College men's volleyball team pulled out a thrilling five-set victory over Penn State Behrend on Wednesday night inside Metheny Fieldhouse 21-25, 25-19, 21-25, 25-23, 15-12.  Geneva improved to 6-7 on the season with the win.

Geneva opened the first set with four straight points behind the serving of freshman Colton Alfaro and two kills from junior Evan Puhl, two players would feature prominently throughout the match.  However, Behrend answered with a 7-2 run to take its first lead of the match.  A kill from junior Andrew Ubinger tied the set at 10-10, but the Lions began to pull away with four straight points, and the Golden Tornadoes never got closer than two points the rest of the set, eventually falling 25-21.

Geneva rebounded in the second set, jumping ahead 5-2 after back-to-back blocks, the first from Puhl and sophomore Owen Kelley, the second from Puhl and freshman Matthew DeGraaf, and the Golden Tornadoes led the rest of the set.  Geneva really stretched out its lead midway through the set, getting three kills and two aces from Puhl to take a commanding 21-11 edge.  Behrend tried to rally late, pulling within 23-18, but kills from Ubinger and Puhl allowed the men to finish off the set, 25-19.

Three early kills from Kelley in the third set gave the Golden Tornadoes an early 8-5 advantage, but Behrend responded with an 8-2 run to grab a 13-10 lead.  The Lions led the rest of the set, and though Geneva closed within two points multiple times, Behrend scored the final two points to win 25-21 to take a 2-1 lead in the match.

The fourth set proved to be one of the tightest of the season.  Neither team led by more than two points the entire set, and most of the time the score was within one point.  Trailing 17-15 after a 4-1 run by Behrend, Geneva scored three straight points to grab an 18-17 edge, getting on the positive side of the side outs.  In fact, the end of Geneva's run began a stretch of 13 straight points that the teams alternated, which got Geneva to set point, 24-23, after another kill from Puhl.  Ubinger and Puhl then came up with a huge double block to give the men the victory, 25-23, sending the match to a fifth set.

The Golden Tornadoes got off to a great start in the final set, jumping ahead 5-1 behind two more kills from Puhl.  A couple minutes later, kills from Kelley, DeGraaf and Ubinger extended the lead to 9-3.  Behrend didn't go down easily, though, using a late four-point run to close within 13-12.  However, an attack error by the Lions gave Geneva match point, and Kelley finished off the thrilling victory with an emphatic kill, 15-12.

Alfaro set a new program record in the win with 55 assists while directing the offense, adding 11 digs.  Kelley led the offense with a career-high 20 kills, along with 13 digs, while Puhl kept up his recent strong play with a career-high 19 kills on an impressive .472 hitting percentage, while also finishing with a team-high six blocks and three aces.  Ubinger also had a strong match, totaling 13 kills and 15 digs.   Senior Joshua Sangrey led the team with 16 digs as Geneva finished with a .205 hitting percentage.

Geneva travels this Saturday to Buffalo State for a tri-match with Elmira and the hosts.  The men play Elmira at 2:00 p.m. and Buffalo State at 4:00 p.m.