(New York, NY) On Thursday night the Tigers went up against their NYC rivals, the Panthers of BMCC. After dropping both regular season meetings to BMCC, including a marathon five set senior night loss exactly one prior to this match, things would finally go the Tigers way.
The first set of the night was all Tigers. The team played sharp, and took advantage of a BMCC team that came out playing flat and making a lot of errors. Midway through the first set, BMCC was struggling to get things going and had a low energy level. To make matters worse, the Panthers were forced to sub in their backup setter after their starter was called for three double hits. Sensing weakness, the Tigers pounced on the opportunities BMCC gave and closed out the first set easily 25-14.
FIT knew that BMCC could not be counted out and that they would come back with fight in the second set which they did. BMCC jumped out to a lead behind an uncharacteristic amount of FIT errors, before the Tigers regained their focus. Trailing 22-19, the Tigers took over the serve and scored the next 3 points to come within one before giving the serve and a one point lead back to BMCC 23-22. The ensuing BMCC serve was and ace followed by a serve out. Down 24-23, the Tigers scored the next two points and went back and forth with the Panthers until FIT was able to put away a roller coaster of a second set, 29-27.
The third set, though ending 25-17 in favor of the Tigers, was close most of the way until the Tigers pulled away towards the end. There was just no stopping FIT who was determined to avenge the two regular season BMCC losses (especially the senior night loss the week before), and advance to the regional semis to keep their season alive.
"I was very proud of how we played today. We prepared very well for this match, and tonight it showed. The team executed the game plan we had layed out in practice. It's simple, if we play our brand of volleyball, and execute the game plan we prepare for, we are hard to beat," said head coach Keith Heron.
Top Tigers of the day were:
Sophomore co-captain Cassandra Burdick (13 assists, 5 aces, 8 digs, 3 kills)
Sophomore Vanessa Bennish (11 kills, 3 aces, 7 digs and a solo block)
Next up for the Tigers: The regional Semifinal and Final matches both to take on Saturday starting at 12 noon at Orange Community College. Come and shown some support for your FIT Tiger Volleyball Team!
