LATROBE, Pa. – The Geneva College men's volleyball team earned a big Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) win on Thursday night at Saint Vincent in five sets 14-25, 25-22, 25-20, 23-25, 15-9.  The victory improves Geneva's record to 7-8 overall, 2-1 in the PAC.

Saint Vincent took control of the first set midway through the action.  After a kill from sophomore Owen Kelley pulled Geneva within 6-5, the Bearcats scored six straight points, and Geneva never got closer than four points before losing 25-14.

In the second set, it was the Golden Tornadoes' turn to make a big run midway through the set to gain an edge.  After a point from Saint Vincent pulled the Bearcats within 7-6, Geneva used a 6-1 run to grab a 13-7 lead.  Junior Andrew Ubinger started the run with two kills, followed by two more kills from Kelley.  Geneva stretched its lead to 23-15 on another kill from Ubinger before the men had to hold off a late Saint Vincent rally.  The Bearcats strung together a 7-1 stretch to pull within 24-22, but a Saint Vincent service error gave Geneva the win, 25-22.

Geneva opened the third set with four straight points behind a block from Ubinger and a kill from Kelley, and though the Bearcats pulled within one point a couple times, the Golden Tornadoes never let Saint Vincent take the lead.  Geneva strung together six straight points midway through the set behind two kills and an ace from Ubinger and a block from freshman Matthew DeGraaf to take a commanding 17-8 advantage, and the men closed out the set 25-20 on back-to-back kills from Kelley.

The Golden Tornadoes appeared set to close out the match in four sets when Geneva quickly jumped ahead 9-3 in the next set.  Junior Evan Puhl had two kills to open the action, DeGraaf provided a block and a kill, and Ubinger added another ace in the opening stretch.  Saint Vincent managed to slowly pull back into the set, though, closing within one point on multiple occasions.  Geneva was still in good shape after a 4-1 run gave the men a 21-17 lead, with Kelley contributing two kills, Ubinger a kill and sophomore Alex Smith an ace.  Unfortunately, the Golden Tornadoes let the set slip away as the Bearcats finished the set on an 8-2 run to even the match up with a 25-23 win.

The momentum from that late run did not carry into the fifth and final set, though.  Geneva scored the first five points of the set behind a block from Puhl, two kills from Kelley and an ace from Ubinger.  Saint Vincent battled back to within one point, 8-7, but Geneva closed the set well this time.  The Golden Tornadoes finished the match off with a 7-2 run, with a block from Puhl and an ace from Ubinger providing the final two points, 15-9.

Kelley and Ubinger led the offense with 18 and 16 kills, respectively.  Ubinger added a career-high 22 digs and four aces, while Kelley posted 10 digs.  Puhl also reached double digits with 12 kills, along with four blocks.  Senior Joshua Sangrey, two nights after becoming the first men's volleyball player to reach 1,000 digs, posted a career-high 28 digs.  Freshman Colton Alfaro again directed the offense with 45 assists, while adding 10 digs, while freshman Christian Parks contributed 10 digs in the win.

Geneva wraps up its three-match PAC road week on Saturday with a contest at Grove City at 12:00 p.m.  This will be the first time these two programs have faced, with Grove City just beginning its varsity program this season.