ERIE, Pa. – The Geneva women's volleyball program traveled north to Erie on Friday for a weekend tournament, but they did not find any success on day one of the trip, getting swept by Penn State Behrend (19-25, 19-25, 17-25) before falling in four sets to Fredonia (25-19, 23-25, 9-25, 17-25). The lone highlight of the day was the return of All-PAC senior outside hitter Emily Nelson, who played in her first match of the year after suffering a preseason injury. With the loss, the GTs fall to 0-6, still in search of their first win heading into day two of the tournament.

The women struggled from the outset against Penn State Behrend, falling behind early in set one. Strong serving from senior Heather Seubert resulted in three Geneva aces in quick succession, and that pulled the GTs within one point, 17-16, midway through the set. Unfortunately, the Lions closed the frame well, using an 8-3 run to take set one.

Set two followed a similar pattern for the Golden Tornadoes, as the women trailed early on but battled back to make it a close by the halfway point. Once again, Behrend responded strongly, outscoring Geneva 12-7 over the second half of the frame to win it 25-19. The Lions' momentum continued into set three, which they won easily, 25-17.

Seubert was the top performer for the women in the loss, posting a nice stat line of 14 digs and five aces. The women struggled offensively throughout, with freshman Hannah Kelley's five kills the top mark by anyone on the team. Freshman Ruthie Land recorded a team-high nine assists while both middle hitters, juniors Daphne Alexander and Gracyn Lee, notched three blocks apiece.

Match two was better from the outset for the women, who got out to a 4-1 lead in the first set thanks to back-to-back service aces by sophomore Laura Goonewardene. Fredonia recovered, coming back to tie the score, but a kill by freshman Kaelyn Keefer midway through the set gave the GTs a 16-10 advantage. The Blue Devils could not rally from that point onward, losing multiple points on errors, and Geneva won its first set of the day 25-19.

The second set did not go as well for the GTs. After a back-and-forth first couple of minutes, Fredonia seized control, going in front 24-18 as the set went on. A furious comeback attempt from the women, fueled by the serve of freshman Julia McChesney, brought Geneva all the way back to within one point, but the Blue Devils finally ended the set with a kill, taking it 25-23. The GTs seemed to lose all their momentum at that point, with Fredonia winning the next two sets 25-9 and 25-17 to complete the four-set victory.

Senior Emily Nelson, in her first day back from injury, led the Golden Tornadoes in kills in the second match, recording nine to go along with 11 digs. Goonewardene handled the setting duties, notching 16 assists, while Seubert again finished with a team-high 16 digs.

The women hop right back on the court tomorrow afternoon, beginning with a 12:00 p.m. match against Bluffton. After that, they will wrap up their time in Erie with a contest with Houghton, with that match set to start at 4:00 p.m. barring any delays.

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