LATROBE, Pa. (Feb. 20)- The Saint Vincent men's volleyball team fell in five sets to Geneva on Thursday night in a Presidents Athletic Conference matchup.

The Bearcats (4-6, 0-2 PAC) cruised to a 25-14 win in the opening set, before the Golden Tornadoes (7-8, 2-1 PAC) won the next two sets by scores of 25-22 and 25-20 to take a 2-1 lead. Saint Vincent came back to win the fourth set by a score of 25-23, before Geneva won the fifth set by a score of 15-9 to hand SVC the PAC loss.

Shawn McSwiggen led Saint Vincent with a match-high 24 kills, while also adding 18 digs to secure another double-double. Jackson Genicola recorded a double-double as well with 37 digs and 30 assists for the Bearcats. Tommy Barrick added 19 digs for Saint Vincent, while Rocco Marino recorded six kills and two blocks. Tyler Nelson added eight kill for SVC.

It was all SVC in the opening set. Saint Vincent quickly opened up to a 4-1 lead after kills by Genicola, Nelson, and McSwiggen, mixed between a service ace from Barrick. After the GT's cut the Bearcats lead to 6-5, Saint Vincent took full control, scoring the six points in a row, all of which came on Geneva errors to give Saint Vincent a 12-5 advantage. Saint Vincent would go on to outscore Geneva 13-9 over the remaining points, scoring four points in a row to win the set (25-14), taking a 1-0 lead in the match.

Geneva would go on to control the middle sets in the match. The GT's led for the majority of the next two sets as they won set two (25-22) and followed with a 25-20 win in set three to take a 2-1 advantage going into the fourth set. 

The Golden Tornadoes looked to have control in the fourth set as well as they found themselves with a quick 5-1 lead, before increasing that lead to 10-4. Saint Vincent began to climb back into the set, eventually cutting the lead to 17-13. SVC went on to score three consecutive points on a kill by McSwiggen, followed by two Geneva attack errors, as the Bearcats trailed just 17-16 at this point. Geneva pushed that lead back to two (22-20) before Saint Vincent had one final run in them. SVC scored five of the final six points in the set, four of which came from kills, three being from McSwiggen and one from Nelson. SVC won the set (25-23) on an attack error to tie the match at 2-2.

Geneva controlled the entirety of the final set. They opened to a 5-0 lead and never lost that lead the rest of the way. The Bearcats cut the lead to 11-8, but that's the closest they'd get as the GT's scored four of the final five points to win the set (15-9) as SVC fell in the match 3-2.

As a team, SVC hit .086, while Geneva hit .126 as a team. Geneva out blocked the Bearcats by a 14-3 margin in the PAC matchup.

Saint Vincent returns to action on Monday, February 24 with a home non-conference matchup against Carlow. The match is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. in the Robert S. Carey Center.