NEW YORK, N.Y. – The Yeshiva University men's volleyball team earned a key Skyline Conference victory over Sarah Lawrence College, 3-0, in front of a raucous crowd at the Max Stern Athletic Center on Wednesday evening. Set scores were 25-17, 25-9, and 25-23.

Leading the way for Yeshiva (3-6, 1-1 Skyline) was sophomore middle blocker Eliyahou Benhamou, who slammed home a match-high 12 kills to go along with six blocks and four digs, resulting in 16.5 points. Senior outside hitter Chaim Aryeh Rubin produced 11 kills, including a hitting percentage of .588. The Skokie native added 11 digs and scored a pair of service aces. Sophomore opposite hitter Derek Orenshein anchored the defense with 11 digs, to go along with seven kills on the attack, while sophomore setter Isaac Pomerance had a match-high 26 assists and added eight digs.

After Sarah Lawrence (1-9, 0-2 Skyline) jumped out to a 7-6 advantage in the opening set, Rubin and Pomerance combined for back-to-back kills to propel YU to a 10-7 hold. Later in the match, YU broke a 12-12 tie with five straight points, capped off by a kill from Benhamou, to take control of the set. After the Gryphons narrowed the deficit to 18-14, Benhamou executed two successful attacks to push Yeshiva to a 4-0 run that gave the home team a 22-14 lead. SLC could not get back into the game, as Rubin took advantage of a set-point opportunity with a kill to give YU the 25-17 game-victory and 1-0 lead in the match.

Yeshiva stormed out of the gates in the second set, as Benhamou produced four early kills to propel the Blue and White to a 13-1 hold. The Gryphons could not overcome the large deficit, as the Maccabees cruised to a victory in the second set, 25-9, to put the visiting team on the brink.

Sarah Lawrence would not go down without a fight in the third set, as the Gryphons jumped out to an early 8-2 advantage. Yeshiva countered with a 12-1 run, highlighted by two kills each from Rubin and Benhamou, as well as two aces by graduate middle blocker Adam Gerszberg, to put the Macs in front by a score of 14-9. Later in the game, SLC scored six unanswered points to tie the stanza up, 15-15. After the home team broke the tie,  Rubin and Gerszberg combined for back-to-back kills to push Yeshiva to a three-point cushion.

Sarah Lawrence kept hanging around, but three straight kills from YU gave the home team a 21-17 lead. The Gryphons countered with four straight points to tie the match. With the score even at 22 points apiece, Yeshiva scored three of the match's last four points to win the set and the overall contest. Gerszberg clinched Yeshiva's first conference victory of the season with a kill.

For Yeshiva, Gerszberg had five kills and six digs, while sophomore outside hitter Jonathan Apsan produced two kills and four digs of his own. Junior middle blocker Yosef Ajami had four kills with two digs, while liberos Michael Stark and Sibi Selvarajah each chipped in with three digs. Sophomore setter David Fleschner had a career-high nine assists, while sophomore outside hitter Joseph Sulaymanov generated a kill, service ace, and a pair of digs.

Yeshiva will battle York College (N.Y.), at the York College Gymnasium on Sunday, beginning at 1:00 p.m.