New York, New York - The BMCC men's volleyball team lost a tightly contested match in three sets (25-27, 25-27, 20-25) to Nassau Community College in Region XV action on Saturday afternoon at BMCC Gymnasium. The loss drops the Panthers to 2-3 (2-1 Region XV), while the Lion's second straight victory improved their record to 4-11 (2-1 Region XV).

Freshman Chong Lin Li led the Panther offense with his team-leading third double-digit kill performance, unloading a game-high 12 kills. Edwin Martinez (Bronx, New York) posted seven kills of his own and led the Panthers with two service aces. Fellow underclassmen Hugo Paz (Mexico City, Mexico) distributed a team-high 20 assists.
 
Classmate Eugene Villarruz (Queens, New York) led the defensive effort with a career-high 22 digs, his team-best third double-digit dig effort of the year. Lin Li just missed his team-best second double-double by one dig, with nine in the contest.

After both squads were tied at 10, BMCC scored four straight points to build a 14-10 lead before Nassau Community College got within two, 15-13, on a Collin Radin kill. The Panthers recorded the following three points after to make it 18-13 on a Perry Tran (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam) kill and built their lead to its largest of the set six, 21-15, on an attack error by the Lions. Nassau Community College would rally with a 7-1 run to knot the match up at 22 on a smash from Brian Sandmeier. 

The score would be tied three straight times before a Martinez service ace gave the Panthers a 25-24 lead. The Lions would grab control and be able to close it out with three straight points capped off by a Sandmeier service ace for a 27-25 win in the opening set.

The Lions jumped out to a 4-2 lead in the second set before the Panthers scored three straight points to take the lead 5-4 on an Emmanuel Lovingood (Queens, New York) service ace. After a Martinez kill made it 10-7 for BMCC, Nassau Community College scored three consecutive points to knot it up at 10 on a Kill from Jayden Rodriguez. The Panthers scored five of the following eight points to make it 15-13 on a Weiduan Jiang (New York, New York) kill before the Lions scored back-to-back points to tie it at 15 on a Radin solo block.

After both teams were tied three times, Nassau Community College scored four of the following six points to get their lead to 22-20 on a kill from Nikolas James. BMCC scored three straight points to take a 23-22 lead on a throwdown from Lin Li. After a Tyler Foy service ace tied it at 24, Martinez smacked a kill to give the Panthers a 25-24 lead, but NCC would close the door in the second set with three straight points to win 27-25.

The Panthers jumped out to a 5-3 lead early in the third set on a solo block by Lin Li before the Lions exploded with a 10-1 run to take a 13-6 lead. BMCC got the lead down to one, 15-14, on Martinez's service ace but wouldn't get any closer after that as the Lions went on a 6-0 run to stretch their lead to five, 20-15, and took the match by the same margin with a 25-20 third-set victory.

Brian Sandmeier led Nassau Community College on offense and defense, who registered a double-double, smashing a team-high 10 kills, handling a team-best 14 digs, and uncorking a game-high six service aces. Hunter Dunn handed out a game-high 25 assists, while Nikolas James and Jayden Rodriguez contributed on defense with 13 and 11 digs, respectively.

The Panthers will look to get back to their winning days against NJCAA Men's Volleyball National Tournament Runner-Up Monroe College on Wednesday, March 13, at 6 p.m. at BMCC Gymnasium. For more information, visit the BMCC Men's Volleyball Schedule Page.


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