JERSEY CITY, N.J. - The Purchase College men's volleyball team closed out the 2024 regular season with a pair of losses Saturday afternoon, falling to New Jersey City University and Ramapo College.

Game One: NJCU 3, Purchase 0 (25-12, 25-10, 25-15)

The Blue and Orange finished with 19 kills on .027 hitting in the effort. For the Gothic Knights, they fared much better, recording 35 kills on .403 hitting. 

Individually, Channing Williams (FY/Neptune, NJ) and Udel Phillips (FY/Far Rockaway, NY) paced the action with five kills apiece.

Aidan Araza (FY/Jersey City, NJ) recorded 10 assists, while Nate Matthie (FY/Bronx, NY) and Williams each collected six digs.

Game Two: Ramapo 3, Purchase 1 (25-8, 23-25, 28-26, 25-13)

In the following match, the Panthers upped their play against a tough foe in the Roadrunners from Ramapo College.

While the first and last set went the other way with relative ease, the second and third frames were anything but easy.

In the second set, the Panthers rallied numerous times during the course of action, before prevailing late after scoring three of the last four points.

As for the third set, Purchase looked like it had the win in the bag, leading by eight points midway through. However, Ramapo proved why its one of the top teams in the conference, as it rallied back tying the contest up at 21-all.

Despite that, the Blue and Orange still nearly eked out the win, as they had game point twice. But in the end, the Roadrunners emerged with the victory to take the crucial frame after scoring four of the last five points.

Overall, the Panthers finished with 33 kills on .082 hitting, while Ramapo tallied 57 kills on .224 hitting.

Williams again paced the squad in kills (9) and digs (16), while Tyler Ryan (JR/Port Reading, NJ) and Phillips each finished with eight kills apiece.

Araza tallied 18 assists and Matthie recorded 14 digs in the effort. 

With the results, the Panthers finished the regular season 16-13 overall and 11-7 in Skyline Conference games. Both win totals are new program highs. 

Other achievements on the season included: Williams tallying the second-most kills in a season in program history with 303 over 29 matches.

He also become just the second player in Panther history with a 300-kill season. The all-time record was set in 2015 by Kevin Carges '17 with 371.

As for Williams, his 303 kills were also the second-most in the entire Skyline Conference this season.

While the individual accolades are nice, the team only has one goal now - winning the Skyline Conference Championship. For just the second time in program history, the squad will host a playoff game on April 9th at 7 p.m.

That contest will be against the University of Mount Saint Vincent. During two regular-season matchups, the Panthers won both in five and three sets, respectively.