BRROKLYN, N.Y. - Polytechnic Institute of NYU fought off four match points en route to a 3-2 (16-25, 25-18, 18-25, 25-20, 17-15) win over The Sage Colleges in the championship match of the Skyline Conference women's volleyball tournament.  The Fighting Blue Jays earned their first Skyline title and their first NCAA Tournament bid in any sport.

NYU-Poly junior Meredith Shipman was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.

The top-seeded Fighting Blue Jays battled from behind all afternoon.  Third-seeded Sage, which knocked off second seeded St. Joseph's, 3-0, in the semifinals, grabbed the opening set.  After NYU-Poly won the second set to pull even, Sage went up 2-1 after winning the third set.  NYU-Poly won the fourth set to force the deciding fifth set.

The fifth set was close in the early going with the teams exchanging points.  The Gators surged out to a 12-9 lead and extended the margin to 14-11.  With Sage serving for the championship, Shipman came up with a big kill for an NYU-Poly side out.  The Fighting Blue Jays scored the next two points to even the set at 14-14.  The Gators pulled ahead 15-14.  NYU-Poly fought off a fourth match point before closing out the match with two more points.  The final point came on a kill by Shipman.

The NCAA Championship pairings will be announced on Monday.