PURCHASE, N.Y. - The Purchase College women's volleyball celebrated Senior Night Tuesday evening, as the squad bid farewell to five seniors before falling to St. Joseph's College-Long Island in the subsequent match.

Set scores for the contest were 25-11, 25-12 and 25-8.

Despite the loss, the Panthers still enjoyed a memorable night honoring their departing senior class of Skyla Schoppmeyer (Oakdale, NY), Leah Bickley (San Francisco, CA), Karina Medina (Brooklyn, NY), Hadiyah Phillips (Pleasantville, NY) and Kim Halliday (East Islip, NY). 

Before the contest, prepared remarks from head coach Ryan Cole were read aloud as the quintet received gifts and posed for photos with teammates, friends and family.

Shortly after the ceremony, the seniors and the rest of team shifted their focus to the test at hand — the Golden Eagles of St. Joseph's-Long Island.

On the night, St. Joseph's surged ahead early and never relented along the way. In the opening frame, they raced out to a 10-1 advantage, pushing the margin to as many as 15 points before winning, 25-11.

In set two, the Panthers grabbed their lone lead at 3-2, before the guests scored nine of the next ten points to regain control at 11-4. The Golden Eagles extended that margin to as many as 13 points in the middle-set win.

The guests then went on to secure the final frame, 25-8, to claim the Skyline Conference victory. Overall, Purchase hit -.227 with seven kills, while St. Joseph's-LI compiled marks of 33 kills on .202 hitting.

Individually, Pamella Gonzalez (JR/Bronx, NY) and Lilith Bastek-Ochoa (FR/Sag Harbor, NY) led Purchase with two kills apiece. 

As for the seniors, Schoppmeyer and Medina each recorded nine digs, Bickley added a kill and three digs, Phillips picked up one kill and Halliday started her first-ever match. 

With the result, the Panthers dropped to 3-12 overall and 1-8 in the Skyline. Meanwhile, the Golden Eagles improved to 8-12 and 6-3 respectively. 

Up next for Purchase is their penultimate contest of 2021, as the team travels to Maritime College on October 21st. That match is set to begin at 6:00 p.m. and you can follow along right here.