Box Score 1 | Box Score 2


NEW YORK, N.Y.— The Yeshiva men's volleyball team goes back-to-back as the Maccabees, for the second year in a row, win the Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship. Yeshiva went 2-0 on the evening as the Maccabees beat Sarah Lawrence College in the semifinals, before downing St. Joseph's-Brooklyn in the championship game.
 
Yeshiva (10-17, 6-0 HVIAC), the top seed in the championship, won both matches 3-0. The Maccabees defeated No. 4 seed Sarah Lawrence College (0-26, 0-6 HVIAC) 25-18, 25-19, 25-21, and Yeshiva's wins over No. 2 seed St. Joseph's-Brooklyn (8-12, 4-2 HVIAC) were by scores of 25-23, 25-16, 25-16.
 
In the semifinal round, the Maccabees got a great performance from Eliakim Gartenberg with 10 kills (two errors) on 18 attack attempts for a .444 attack percentage. He also added a service ace and a block assist. Kolya Miller and Jared Rechnitz also provided a solid game for Yeshiva with eight kills apiece. Adam Rhodes, who was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player, had 32 assists, two service aces and six digs.
 
Sarah Lawrence College was led by Ishaan Pujari with a match-high 16 kills to go along with nine digs.
 
In the championship game, Rechnitz had 17 kills and 16 digs, while Mishael Miller had 15 digs. Rhodes had 30 assists and nine digs.
 
Yeshiva started out hot, opening the first set on an 8-2 spurt. The Maccabees held a 12-7 lead midway through, before the Bears roared back and pulled to within one. From there, St. Joseph's never got the lead, but it never fell behind by more than three points the remainder of the set. The Bears managed to tie the score at 23-23, but a service error by the Bears, followed by an attack error by them gave the Maccabees the win.
 
In the second set, St. Joseph's-Brooklyn started off on a 3-0 spurt to establish its first lead of the match. But the Maccabees rallied right back and went on an 8-3 surge to lead 8-6. From that point on, Yeshiva never trailed again in that set. The score was tied 9-9 when the Maccabees scampered off on a 6-1 spurt to distance themselves with a 15-10 lead. The closest St. Joseph's-Brooklyn got was two points of the lead for the rest of the set. With Yeshiva holding a 16-14 lead, the Maccabees used a 6-0 spurt to establish a 22-14 lead before earning the set two win.
 
In the third set, the Maccabees led from start to finish to complete the sweep. Yeshiva started off with a 5-1 lead to start and never looked back. A service ace by Joseph Lipton ended it.
 
St. Joseph's-Brooklyn was led by Raul Urshela with 10 kills, six digs and five blocks (two solo, three assists), while Taso Kostikas had four kills and 20 assists.