(yumacs.com) The Yeshiva University men’s volleyball team earned a pair of Skyline Conference victories over St. Joseph’s College Brooklyn, at Max Stern Athletic Center, on Monday evening. The Maccabees (3-3, 4-4 Skyline) won the opening match in straight sets, but it took five games to claim the second victory.
“It was a team effort that helped us win two matches tonight,” Yeshiva University Head Coach Dennis Mente said. “It was hard fought, but the will to succeed prevailed.”
In the opening contest, set scores were 25-21, 25-18, and 25-22. Senior Alon Jakubowitz led all players with 16 kills, while producing three blocks. Classmate Amitai Kolom generated a double-double with 11 kills and just as many digs. Senior Steven Zelmanovich tallied five kills and nine digs, while second-year player Benjamin Goldstein produced 32 assists, eight digs and a pair of service aces. Senior Benjamin Smillie tallied seven digs, a pair of kills and just as many aces.
“The energy of the crowd during tonight’s matchups really helped us pull through and win,” junior Shmuel Aberman said.
The Bears (0-11, 0-8 Skyline) had leads in each set, but the Maccabees went on runs every time to pull ahead and pick up the game-victory. The biggest test for Yeshiva was in the third stanza, when YU fell behind 5-0 and then 8-4. The Macs chipped away and then eventually pulled to within 11-10. After St. Joseph’s extended its lead, Jakubowitz slammed home back-to-back kills to spark a 3-0 run to put YU in front. The Bears countered by going on a rally to grab an 18-15 advantage. However, Zelmanovich slammed home back-to-back kills to spark three unanswered points by YU to tie the set at 18 points apiece. The game would eventually be even at 22, but Yeshiva finished the match strong with three straight points, capped off by a service ace from Smillie, to clinch the Blue and White’s first victory of the night.
For the first match, senior Michael Stark had four digs and an assist. Aberman tallied four digs and two kills, while rookie Eliezer Benjamin slammed home two kills and added an assist. Senior Avi Braun chipped in on defense with three digs, while junior Asher Kirshtein had a kill and an assist.
In the second match, after both teams split the first two sets, Yeshiva nursed a 19-15 benefit. The Macs were able to end the stanza by going on a 6-1 run, concluding with a kill from Goldstein, to go up 2-1 in the match. The Bears countered with a strong finish to the fourth set, closing it out with a 6-2 run to earn the win, 25-20, and force the rubber game.
After YU fell behind, 5-4, in the fifth set, the Maccabees went on a 6-1 run which was highlighted by a pair of kills and a service ace from Kolom that allowed the home team to take the lead for good, 10-6. With the score 12-8 in favor of YU, Jakubowitz finished strong with back-to-back-to-back kills to clinch YU’s second match-victory of the evening.
Jakubowitz once again finished with 16 kills, while earning three blocks and recording four digs. Stark led all players with 14 digs and added two assists, while Goldstein had a match-high 32 assists. Kolom produced a near double-double with 13 kills and nine digs. Smillie produced 13 digs and four kills. Zelmanovich had a solid match with six kills, eight digs, a pair of service aces and just as many assists. Aberman had four kills and four digs, while Kirshtein had seven assists and two digs. Braun added four digs and a kill. Benjamin, sophomore Akiva Kamornick, and classmate Yaakov Strickon each had a kill.
