The ball hit the SUNY Ulster Senate Gymnasium floor, and just like that, the Wallkill volleyball team’s undefeated run was over.

The Division I champion Panthers won the first set from Division IV champion Mount Academy but were unable to take the next two in a 2-1 loss in Wednesday’s Mid-Hudson Athletic League championship match on Thursday night.

“It could have been more consistent,” Wallkill coach Julie Michella said. “I think that was the main issue against Mount Academy, that we just didn’t have consistency throughout the match. We had a good first set and came out strong, and I felt like we took some momentum there.”

But all the momentum that may have been seized in the Panthers’ 25-22 win in the first set was erased in the second. The Panthers led by one point on two occasions before eventually falling behind by four. They pulled to within a point three times but eventually fell behind by five on an ace by Ruby Moody, who bedeviled the Panthers all night when she came to the net.

“She’s just a big presence up there,” Michella said. “It’s hard to get swings past her because she’s such a big blocker. They definitely set her almost every ball when she’s up there. You can expect that if they’re getting the setup, it’s going to hurt.”

The Eagles went on to win the second set, 25-16, setting up a third 15-point set for the MHAL title.

The Panthers immediately fell behind 3-0, but battled back to tie the set at 3-3. They even took a 6-4 lead on a pair of hitting errors by Mount Academy, but a kill by Amy Boller with Moody at the service line restored the lead to Mount Academy.

That put Moody on the service line, and the Panthers on their back foot. Despite two timeouts, the Panthers couldn’t get the serve back, and by the time Boller hit a ball long to turn the serve back to Wallkill, the Eagles led 13-7, two points from match point.

“They went on some big serving runs and they hit the ball hard,” Michella said. “And that attributed to us sending (easier) balls over the net. So, if we’re sending easy balls to them, they’re going to capitalize and send harder balls our way.”

The Panthers opened the night with a 2-0 win over Division II champion Our Lady of Lourdes. The Warriors pushed the Panthers in the first set, which the Panthers won, 28-26, but had an easier time in the second, winning 25-13.

“We didn’t start off strong against Lourdes,” Michella said. “We had a couple of errors, a couple of questionable calls, and I think that rattled us a little bit mentally, and then we had to battle back through the set and were able to pull it out. Then in the second set, I think we just relaxed a little bit and settled into the way we typically play our game.”

Wednesday’s end is disappointing, but the season is not over. The Panthers finished the regular season unbeaten and fell in the championship match to the MHAL’s only other unbeaten team. This week, they play for the Section 9 Class A championship, where their usual sectional nemesis Cornwall will likely stand in their way should the second-seeded Panthers get past the winner of Tuesday’s match against Minisink Valley and Goshen.

“This was a good warm-up for sectional play,” Michella said. “It’s always great competition when we come to MHALs, and I like that we were put into a difficult playoff situation prior to playing in sections because I think that will help to prepare us for the intense mental aspect of that game. I think that gives us a little bit of an advantage over the Orange County teams that don’t have this playoff.”