Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

NEW YORK, N.Y. – The Yeshiva University men's volleyball team earned its first win of the season by defeating Culinary Institute of America, in straights sets at the Yeshiva University Tri-Match, held at the Max Stern Athletic Center on Sunday afternoon. As a result, Yeshiva head coach Dinu Dan earned his first career victory at the helm for the Maccabees. YU then dropped a hard-fought match to Pratt, 3-1.

In the first match against CIA (0-3), set scored were 25-11, 25-19, and 25-19. YU (1-5) led from wire-to-wire in the first set, and cruised to a win in the second game. The Steels gave the Maccabees all they could handle in the third set, as the visiting team jumped out in front, 16-12. Yeshiva answered by scoring 11 unanswered points, highlighted by two kills from freshman outside hitter Jonathan Greenberg, to take a commanding 23-16 advantage. Later in the stanza, sophomore middle blocker Samuel Marcus slammed home a kill to put YU in set-point position. Junior setter Michael Klein scored a kill to cap off the set and clinch Yeshiva's first win of the season.

For the match, Greenberg just missed a double-double with a match-high nine kills and a team-high 10 digs. Klein led all players with 17 assists with five kills and three digs. Junior middle blocker Itai Guttman had six kills with four digs, sophomore opposite hitter Chaim Aryeh Rubin contributed with two kills, just as many block assists, two service aces, and five digs. Marcus had three kills with three block assists, two digs, and scored two aces.

Freshman outside hitter Julien Saka added two kills with four digs, senior libero Hirschy Zaks had five digs and two assists, and junior outside hitter Mathew Rosenberg anchored the defense with six digs and scored a service ace. Sophomore outside hitter Ori Guttman produced a dig, senior outside hitter Eytan Darrison scored an ace, and Sander Eizen slammed home a kill.

In the match against Pratt, set scores were 25-22, 26-24, 15-25, and 25-21. Late in the first set, Marcus took a feed from Klein and slammed home a kill to tie it at 19. Pratt (6-2) responded by going on a 6-3 run to take the first game.

Yeshiva came storming out of the gates to start the second, as a kill by Itai Guttman gave Yeshiva a commanding 14-7 advantage. Pratt would slowly get back into the set and eventually tie it at 19. Itai Guttman added another kill to put Yeshiva back up by one. Later in the stanza, a pair of Cannoneer errors gave YU a set-point opportunity at 24-23. Yeshiva could not finish the set, as Pratt scored three unanswered points to win the game and put the Macs on the brink.

Yeshiva trailed 8-3 in the third, but would storm to a 13-2 run, capped off by a service ace from Klein to take the lead. The Maccabees would pull away and win the third set, keeping them alive in the match.

In the fourth set, Yeshiva had a 16-15 lead in the fourth game, but Pratt would pull ahead and win the set, 25-21, and earn its sixth victory of the season.

Yeshiva had a very strong effort defensively as Zaks led all players with 21 digs, while Saka had 16, and Rosenberg produced eight. Marcus produced seven blocks and five digs, Itai Guttman had two digs, and Rosenberg added three digs. On offense, Marcus had seven kills, while Rosenberg and Saka each slammed home six. Klein had 16 assists with four aces, and chipped in defensively with five digs. Itai Guttman had five kills of his own.

Yeshiva will begin a seven-match road trip next Sunday at John Jay. First serve is scheduled for 12:00 p.m.