GREENVILLE, Pa. – Senior defensive specialist Joshua Sangrey recorded 15 digs in the men's volleyball team's loss to Thiel Tuesday night to become the first Geneva player in history to reach 1,000 career digs. Sangrey was already the all-time digs leader for the Golden Tornadoes' program after just three seasons, with this latest accomplishment further cementing his status as one of the greatest defensive players to wear a Geneva uniform. Unfortunately, the men lost their match to the Tomcats in three sets, 21-25, 19-25, 20-25. Their record falls to 6-8 with the loss, 1-1 in Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) play, while Thiel jumps up to 8-6, 2-0 in the PAC.

The Tomcats seized a 5-3 lead early in set one, but a kill from sophomore Daniel Spear and an ace from sophomore Owen Kelley gave the GTs a 6-5 edge. The score remained close for a while, with back-to-back solo blocks from junior Evan Puhl knotting the score at 10, but a 6-1 run by the home side gave them a distinct advantage. Geneva worked its way back to bring the score within two points, 23-21, but Thiel closed out the set to take it  25-21.

Set two wasn't quite as close at the beginning, with the Tomcats flying out to a 12-5 lead right out of the gate. The Golden Tornadoes battled for a while, even going on a late five-point run thanks to two more blocks featuring Puhl and freshman Matthew DeGraaf, but they could not get any closer than four points and lost the second set 25-19.

The beginning of the third set resembled the first, with both Kelley and Puhl getting two kills apiece to keep the score close, and things were tied up at 9-9 just a few minutes in. The Tomcats began to grow their lead, going ahead by as many as five points, but kills from Puhl and Kelley made the score 21-19 in favor of Thiel. The home side closed on a 4-1 run, however, and won the third and final set 25-20.

Kelley led the men offensively with 13 kills, pairing them with a couple of aces. Puhl finished with nine kills on a .471 hitting percentage, as well as an impressive 5 blocks. Freshman setter Colton Alfaro posted a game-high 26 assists to go with nine digs, and Sangrey's 15 digs were also a game-high.

The men play twice more on the road this week, with a PAC match at Saint Vincent up next on Thursday, February 20^th at 7:00 p.m. Following that is another conference contest with Grove City on Saturday.

Through purposeful learning in a community reflecting the full spectrum of God's kingdom, a Geneva College experience inspires students to discover a faith-life calling in service to God and neighbor. Offering 195+ traditional undergraduate majors and programs, fully online Adult Degree Programs and high-demand graduate degrees, Geneva's programs are recognized for their high quality and affordability. 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 the International Association for Christian Education (IACE).