BROOKLYN, N.Y. - The Purchase College men's volleyball team kicked off its season with a tough result Wednesday evening, falling to Brooklyn College in a five-set thriller.

Set scores for the contest were 25-11, 21-25, 25-19, 23-25 and 15-12.

The Panthers finished with 39 kills on .135 hitting, while the Bulldogs compiled totals of 51 and .136, respectively.

After opening the contest slow, the Blue and Orange rallied for a breakout second set, as they used a come-from-behind effort to take the set and tie the contest up.

In the middle frame, the Panthers looked primed to win again, before Brooklyn pulled off a late run by scoring 11 of the final 14 points.

However, the guests answered the call in the fourth stanza, tying the contest up at 2-2, before entering the deciding fifth set.

To begin, the two sides traded points back and forth over the first half, until a four-point splash from the Bulldogs allowed them to edged ahead, 11-7.

The Panthers cut the margin to just two points three times over the rest of the set but couldn't get any closer as Brooklyn prevailed, 15-12.

Individually, Channing Williams (FY/Neptune, NJ) had a breakout first game, finishing with a match-high 23 points (18 kills, four solo blocks and an ace).

Tyler Ryan (JR/Port Reading, NJ) added nine kills and a team-high 14 digs, while Nate Matthie (FY/Bronx, NY) chipped in six kills and 12 digs.

Up next for the Panthers is more non-conference road action as the team heads to Massachusetts to face Dean College. That match is scheduled for January 26th at 3:30 p.m.