Women's Volleyball Sweeps Season Opener

The Panthers swept the visiting York College in the season opener. (Photo by Diana Gilday)

By Diana Gilday

Women’s Volleyball is back and in full swing at Purchase College, with the team starting their Fall 2019 season on Sept. 4 in a home game against York College. The Panthers started the new season strong, defeating York in a three set clean sweep.

The game started off in favor for the Panthers, who secured the first point of the first set, which set up an exciting and positive game. Throughout the game, the team exhibited communication and teamwork both on and off the court. The journey towards the fourth point of the game was a grueling one, but the girls shouted commands and movements at each other on the court, while taking in the advice from their coaches on the sideline.

The two teams seemed very evenly matched, especially in the second set where the final score was 25-22, but in the end, the York College Cardinals were no match for the Purchase Panthers.

Assistant coach Alex Lally, why played volleyball at Purchase and just graduated this past May, highlighted some moments she thought were pivotal for the game. One particular moment she highlighted were the serves from Libero Skyla Schoppmeyer. Her serves were extremely consistent throughout the game and even secured a few points for the team.

Lally also pointed out that outside hitter Gia Gwin was extremely consistent throughout the game and was a big part of why the team secured the win. Lally said that it was worth mentioning right side hitter Samantha Fasce was a key player of this game, helping not only secure points, but also providing many crucial blocks.

Overall, Lally was pleased with her team, saying that it was a “good baseline to figure where we are and what we need to work on."

The turnout for the game was quite strong and the energy and excitement of the crowd matched, if not beat, the energy of the girls playing.

The Panthers are taking on the Medgar Ever Cougars in an away game on September 5th, 2019 and return home on September 18th, 2019 to take on the Mount Saint Mary Knights.