BROOKLYN, N.Y. - The Purchase College women's volleyball team split a pair of matches Saturday afternoon, falling to Pratt Institute to start the day, before finishing with a four-set win over Five Towns College.
Set scores against Pratt were 25-12, 25-15 and 25-13.
In the opening contest, Purchase jumped out to a 4-1 lead before the Cannoneers of Pratt completely flipped the script. The hosts embarked on a 19-3 scoring run to turn the 4-1 deficit into a 20-7 advantage and shortly after, took the first set by the score of 25-12.
Pratt's level of play continued over the next two frames, as they rode long-scoring streaks to take charge and eventually earn the win. In the loss, Purchase hit .064 with 12 kills, while Pratt compiled marks of 35 kills and a .305 hitting percentage.
Individually,
Hadiyah Phillips (SR/Pleasantville, NY),
Samantha Fasce (JR/Yorktown Heights, NY) and
Lilith Bastek-Ochoa (FR/Sag Harbor, NY) totaled three kills apiece, while
Karina Medina (SR/Brooklyn, NY) finished with team-high totals in assists (10) and digs (13).
Despite the opening-game loss, the Panthers rebounded nicely in game two, topping Five Towns by the set scores of 25-16, 25-18, 22-25 and 34-32.
Fasce led the way in the win with 13 points (10 kills and three aces), while
Pamella Gonzalez (JR/Bronx, NY) finished with 12 points (nine kills and three aces) and 21 digs. Medina added 29 assists and 18 digs for Purchase.
In a match that turned out to be slugfest, things started nicely for the Panthers as they led almost the entire opening frame. That wasn't the case in the second set though, as it was the Sound of Five Towns that jumped in front and held the lead for awhile.
It wasn't until the score was 16-15 in favor of Five Towns that the Panthers started to pull away, rallying off 10 of the final 12 points of the set to win, 25-18.
In set three, the Sound used a late rally to eek out a win this time around, taking the frame by the mark of 25-22. With the win, Five Towns extended the match to a fourth set and it delivered.
The Panthers used an early advantage to jump in front initially, before seven-straight points midway through lifted the Sound in front, 20-16.
Slowly but surely, the Panthers battled back to cut the deficit to two points three times (20-18, 21-19 and 23-21), before finally managing to leapfrog Five Towns with three straight points to make it 24-23.
However, the Panthers weren't able to seal the win then, as Five Towns scored to make it 24-24, meaning some extra volleyball was needed to decide a winner. From that point on, neither side scored more than two-straight points over the next 15 rallies.
Finally, the Panthers broke that streak down 32-31, thanks to a kill from Fasce and two errors by the Sound. With the points, Purchase emerged with the 34-32 set win to take the match, 3-1.
With the results, the Panthers are now 3-11 overall, while Pratt sits at 13-4 and Five Towns is 0-4.
Up next for Purchase is the team's final home game of 2021 and it's Senior Night, as the Panthers welcome St. Joseph's College-Long Island on October 19th. That match is set to begin at 7 p.m. with Senior Night activities starting slightly beforehand.
