New Rochelle, New York – The third-seeded BMCC men's volleyball team's exciting debut 2024 season came to a close on Saturday afternoon in straight sets (23-25,20-25,17-25) to second-seed Nassau Community College in the semifinals of the first-ever Region 15 Men's Volleyball Championship at the Monroe Athletic Complex in New Rochelle, New York. 
 
The Panthers finished the season at 4-8 while the Lions improved to 10-14, advancing to the 2024 Region 15 Championship Title Game against top seed Monroe College, who defeated them for the first-ever Region crown in three consecutive sets (25-20,25-11,25-15).
 
Freshman Edwin Martinez (Bronx, New York) and Isah Mohammed (Lagos, Nigeria) led the Panthers on offense with a team-high eight kills each. Classmate Hugo Paz (Mexico City, Mexico) dished out a team-best 12 assists. Freshman Chong Lin Li (New York, New York) led the Panthers on defense with a team-best seven digs and had one service ace, while classmate Eugene Villarruz (Queens, New York), who was named to the 2024 Region XV Championship All-Tournament Team, handled six digs in the match. Mohammed also led BMCC with two solo blocks in the contest.

Lin Li finished his season with a team-best 111 kills, five double-digit kill games, and two double-doubles while leading the Region in kills per set at 2.85, which was also 11th in the nation. Paz and Villarruz were outstanding as well, with the Mexico City, Mexico native distributing a team-high 235 assists and ranking second in the Region and eighth in the country at 6.18 assists per set, and the Queens, New York product led the team with 136 digs and was tops in the Region with 3.49 digs per set which was also seventh nationally.
 
After both teams exchanged the first twelve points in the first set Nassau Community College five of the next eight points to grab a two point lead 11-9 on a kill from Brian Sandmeier. The Panthers exploded for eight of the next 12 points tying it at 14 and 15 on kills from Mohammed and Emmanuel Lovingood (Queens, New York) along with a solo block from Lovingood and a bad set by Hunter Dunn to lead 17-15. Martinez's service error and Lin Li's attack error helped the Lions tie it at 17 before scoring three of the next four points to take a 20-18 lead on a throwdown by Mohammed. Nassau Community College scored four consecutive points tying it at 20 on a kill by Mustafa Pasha and using attack errors from Lin Li and Mohammed to retake the lead 21-20 and extend it to 22-20.
 
The Panthers battled back to get within one 24-23 with three of the next five points courtesy of a Kill by Martinez before Tai Spigner ended the set with a kill giving the Lions a 25-23 win.
 
BMCC and Nassau Community College continued their semifinal slugfest in the second set both exchanging the first 18 points then the Panthers erased the nine all tie with three consecutive points to grab a 12-9 lead on a smash from Mohammed. BMCC stretched their lead to three two more times 13-10 and 14-11 on Mohammed's and Lin Li's kills before Nassau scored five of the next seven points to knot the set up at 16 on a Weiduan Jiang (New York, New York) service error. Martinez would make up for an attack error that gave the Lions back the lead by one, 17-16 with a kill of his own to tie it at 17 before Nassau rolled off four straight points to get the advantage to four, 21-17 on Kill from Dunn and attack error by Lovingood. Paz's kill got BMCC within three, 21-18 but they wouldn't get any closer as the Lions scored four of the final six points to take a two games to none lead in the match on a Sandmeier kill to win the set 25-20.

The Lions jumped out to a 10-7 lead in the third set on a Kill by Dunn then the Panthers responded with four consecutive points to take their first lead of the set 11-10 on an attack error by Sandmeier. Nassau Community College would not look back after that using an 11-3 run to build their lead to seven, 21-14 on a Spigner kill and cruising to a 25-18 victory in set number three to punch their ticket to the first ever 2024 Region XV Championship game against Monroe College.
 
Brian Sandmeier led the Nassau Community College offense with a game-high 10 kills, Hunter Dunn dished out a game-best 20 assists, and Connor Williams placed three service aces. Mustafa Pasha led the defensive effort with a game-high tied seven digs and three total blocks (one solo and two block assists).
 

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