RIVERDALE, N.Y. - The Purchase College men's volleyball team secured a big win Thursday evening, besting its Skyline Conference rival, the University of Mount Saint Vincent, in straight sets.

Scores for the contest were 25-21, 25-20 and 25-23.

With the win, the Panthers now possess an important tiebreaker over the Dolphins, as the Blue and Orange won both matchups this season. That distinction will be important with the playoffs coming up soon.

For now, Purchase moved to 12-9 overall and 7-3 in the Skyline. For the hosts, they dropped to 6-9 and 5-6, respectively. 

While the Panthers secured the win in the end, they fought each step of the way, including overcoming late deficits in the first and third sets.

In the first, the teams entered the homestretch with the Dolphins ahead, 20-18, before the guests scored six straight and seven of the final eight points to earn the opening frame.

The middle set saw back and forth action over the first initial points, before Purchase used a five-point, four-point and three-point run to create space as it prevailed in the end, 25-20.

Finally, the last stanza of the night saw the closest action as the Panthers fell behind by as many as five points early on.

Purchase eventually rallied to tie the contest at 10-all, before the two sides traded points to an eventual 19-all margin. From there, the hosts scored twice, only for the Panthers to responded with two-straight points.

A bad set put Mount Saint Vincent ahead, 22-21, before three points in a row had the Panthers knocking on victory's door.

After the hosts got one back to cut the deficit to 24-23, Udel Phillips (FY/Far Rockaway, NY) sealed the victory with a kill and send the Panthers home with the set and match.

Overall, the Blue and Orange finished with 33 kills on .315 hitting. While the hosts were close on kills with 31, they trailed significantly on hitting percentage with a .111 mark.

Individually, Channing Williams (FY/Neptune, NY) finished with a team-high 11 kills, one solo bock, a block assist and eight digs.

Tyler Ryan (JR/Port Reading, NJ) collected nine kills and nine digs, while Aidan Araza (FY/Jersey City, NJ) added 20 assists and nine digs in the win.

Up next for the Panthers is another weekend tri-match, as the squad faces Sarah Lawrence College and St. Joseph's University-Brooklyn on March 23rd. The first contest is set for 11 a.m. in Bronxville, NY.