Purchase, NY
(April 5, 2018) – Two seniors, two victories.
Purchase honored two of its best on Senior Night Thursday, downing Sarah Lawrence College in back-to-back matches. The hosts celebrated the careers of
Griffin Rapp (SR/Rochester, NY) and
Christopher Williams (SR/Valley Stream, NY) with a pair of 3-0 sweeps.
In between matches,
Sports Information Director Bobby Ciafardini welcomed friends and loved ones to the court for a brief ceremony. Ciafardini MCed the festivities, which included a nice speech from
head coach Christopher Husmann and
assistant coach Evan Bigam.
"The past two years with Griff have been great," the coaching staff noted in their speech. "Griff is easily one of the hardest working players we have ever been around. Giving his all on every single play in practice and in matches. Griff is exceptionally coachable, he listens and applies everything we tell him. He has attacked and adjusted to every role we have given him this year. It is a pleasure to have a player like Griff on any team.
"Chris is very similar to Griff; he has adapted to playing literally every single position on the volleyball court the last two years … Chris is the type of player to give his all every single time weather he is wrong or right. He'll occasionally set the right side when there is no one there but he makes that mistake giving it 100 percent and he's certain that someone is there ... when there isn't," Ciafardini said to laughter from the bench and crowd.
"All kidding aside, Chris has made our job easy the past two years being the ultimate utility player, able to play every single position and able to play it at an exceptional level. He understands the game very well and he will make a good coach someday, should he stick with volleyball. He is a great leader and has unrelenting passion, which is why he was a great senior captain this season."
Both Rapp and Williams were four-year players for the program, the last two of which under Husmann and Bigam. Both seniors received senior gifts from the coaching staff and will once again be honored during the program's annual awards banquet on Thursday, April 26 at the Performing Arts Center. Senior parents are invited to attend.
Purchase won the first match 25-15, 25-13, 25-17 and the second 25-10, 25-19, 25-16.
Sarah Lawrence (0-19, 0-7 Skyline Conference) was paced in the opener by Divij Kapoor and his nine kills.
The Panthers (8-15, 6-5) were led by
Luke Kubisch (JR/Delmar, NY) and
Christian Colon (FR/Bronx, NY), who totaled 12 and 11, respectively. Rapp added three aces and 12 digs in the start.
Andreo Otiniano (SO/Mamaroneck, NY) contributed a match-best 30 assists. Williams also added nine digs, teaming with Rapp for a dynamic senior defensive effort.
Williams also had the highlight of the night, recording the final kill of the second match to seal his Purchase career at home on a high note. It is the final regular-season matches at home for both Rapp and Williams. The Panthers have one road regular-season match remaining tomorrow at the the College of Staten Island and are ticketed for the postseason, although they could enter the tournament with a semifinal road game. They entered tonight as the No. 3 seed in the conference standings.
Kubisch paced all scorers with nine kills in the second match. Otiniano added eight and Williams finished with six. Williams added three aces, one block, seven digs and 21 assists in terrific all-around Senior Night. He led Purchase in all four of those categories over the second match.
SLC's Kapoor registered five kills in the loss.
