(Manhattan, NY) On Saturday,  it was another exciting double dual sweep for FIT! With that, the Tigers locked up a 3rd place finish in Region 15 standings and the right to host the first round of the regional playoffs in their own gym this coming Thursday 10/27 at 7pm.

In the first match of the day, the Tigers went up against the Generals of Sullivan CC. Giving some starters a rest for injuries and to save energy for the upcoming playoff run, the Generals put a good scare into the Tigers during the first set amassing an 8 point lead that they maintained until the very end of the first set. Down 24-21, the Tigers took over the serve and stormed all the way back to win 26-24.

Going into the next set, the coaching staff decided to stick to the game plan and make no changes to the starters or to the rotation. This time though,  the Tigers came out roaring to an easy 25-10 victory in the second set. Going into the 3rd set, it was time to get the starters some work, and the set ended with the same 25-10 result and the match was over 3-0. In the 3-set match, FIT recorded an amazing 22 aces. 9 aces were served up by sophomore Christina Wong to along with 9 digs and 1 kill while 6 aces were recorded by sophomore Meghan Chilson.

"It was so tempting to scrap the game plan in the first set, and put the starters in to get the job done. But the other coaches advised me to let the players on the court figure it out for themselves and see if they could overcome the challenge. I'm so proud of how our players who normally come off the bench responded to the adversity in the first set and then played so well in the second set. Our sophomore co-captain Cassandra Burdick did a nice job of keeping everyone in the right place physically and emotionally especially when things got tough.  Heading into the playoffs, we think that experience will pay off for some of our players who don't normally get chances to play through pressure situations," said head coach Keith Heron.

In the second match of the day, the Tigers took on 3rd place Orange Community College, who had just won in 5 sets over BMCC earlier in the day.  The Tigers knew that with a win over Orange, they would take over third place in the region, and would host a home playoff game on Thursday, so they were fired up. The Tigers looked very sharp in warm-ups, and seemed to have their energy still flowing from their win against Sullivan earlier.

In the first set, the Tigers fell behind early, then rallied to make a slow and steady comeback. Down 23-19 and in serve recieve after a time out, the Tigers dug in their claws, won the point and used that momentum to win the set 26-24. The second set was highlighted once again by FIT's overpowering service performances turned in by freshman co-captain Arpi Dayian  (3 aces) and sophomore Christina Wong (2 aces).  Each of the players served 8 times in the set and Orange struggled to play cleanly on the balls they could get to. Fueled by the scorching service attempts and aggressive defensive play at the net, the momentum remained behind FIT as if they were a runaway freight train for the rest of the match. The Tigers put away Orange by the scores of 25-12 in the second set and 25-18 in the 3rd set. The match went to FIT 3-0 and 3rd place in the region was clinched!

Top Tigers of the day were:
Freshman co-captain Arpi Dayian  (15 assists, 5 aces, 2 kills, 1 solo block, 1 block assist)
Sophomore Jillian Staebler (15 kills, 5 aces, 4 digs, 2 block assists and 1 solo block)
Freshman Erin Dee (13 kills, 16 digs)
Sophomore defenders Hannah Edwards(24 digs) and Christina Wong (21 digs) who both made great passes all day off digs and serve recieve.

Come down to the FIT gym this Thursday,  10/27 to cheer us on for our first round playoff game!!!