BROOKLYN – The Yeshiva University men's volleyball team opened the 2020 season with a victory over Pratt Institute, in straight sets, at the Pratt ARC on Wednesday evening. The Maccabees kick off the year, 1-0, while the Cannoneers drop to 0-5.

"I am so happy with the result of tonight's game," Yeshiva University Head Coach Dennis Mente said. "I'm so proud of the guys. They worked hard to earn every point tonight and they showed strong teamwork."

Leading the way for the Maccabees was senior middle blocker Yosef Ajami, who slammed home a match-high 13 kills, while scoring six service aces and recording a pair of digs. First-year setter Benjamin Goldstein led all players with 23 assists and chipped in on defense with four digs. Junior outside hitter Joseph Sulaymanov scored six kills and registered a match-best six digs.

Yeshiva got off to a slow start but recovered by scoring four unanswered points to tie the contest at 18, in the opening set. Later in the stanza, graduate libero Sibi Selvarajah and Ajami combined for back-to-back kills to catapult the Maccabees to a 21-20 advantage. That began a 4-0 run to put the Macs up, 23-20. The Blue and White closed out the first game by scoring two of the last three points to earn a 25-22 victory and go up 1-0 in the match.

The Maccabees jumped out to a 6-2 hold in the second set, thanks to service aces by Sulaymanov and two kills by Ajami. YU never surrendered the advantage as Ajami and junior outside hitter Jonathan Apsan's kill apiece during the Macs' 6-1 run gave the visiting team a commanding 17-7 benefit. Ajami carried Yeshiva to six straight points, thanks to four aces and two kills, to give his team a 24-9 hold. After Pratt scored the next point, Sulaymanov finished the game off with a kill to put YU up, 2-0 in the match, and put the home team on the brink of defeat.

In the third set, a 7-1 run gave Yeshiva the lead, 11-4. Sophomore middle blocker Steven Zelmanovich had two kills, while junior setter Shimon Ohana and third-year opposite hitter Derek Orenshein each added successful attacks of their own, during the early-game rally. Later in the stanza, Pratt rallied to pull to within four, at 17-13. However, the Macs recovered by scoring five of the game's last seven points, capped off by a kill from Apsan, to clinch the season-opening victory.

For the Maccabees, Apsan had four kills and two digs, while Zelmanovich registered three kills of his own. Orenshein slammed home four kills and contributed on defense with just a many digs. Sophomore middle blocker Amitai Kolom tallied two kills, while Selvarajah had three digs.

Yeshiva will travel to Pennsylvania on Sunday, for a tri-match hosted by King's College (Pa.). The Maccabees will battle the Beavers of City College at 1:00 p.m., and then take on the host Monarchs at 3:00 p.m.