WILKES-BARRE, PA – On Sunday afternoon, the City College of New York men's volleyball team improved to 9-2 on the season with a pair of victories.  After topping Yeshiva (1-2) by a score of 25-11, 25-16, 25-14, the Beavers earned a 20-25, 25-17, 25-23, 18-25, 15-13 win over host King's (9-4) at Scandlon Gym.

In the first set against Yeshiva, CCNY used a 16-2 run to turn a 5-5 deadlock into a 21-7 advantage.  A block by Omar Dervisevic (East Elmhurst, NY) and Elijah Parks (Long Beach, NY) moved the Beavers to set point at 24-10, and CCNY took the frame by a 25-11 count.

Yeshiva won the first two points of the second set before a Stormer Horton (Waimea, HI) kill started a 12-2 CCNY run that gave the Beavers a 12-4 lead.  After the Maccabees rallied back within 15-10, another Horton kill sparked a 6-2 spurt that increased CCNY's advantage to 21-12.  Dervisevic smacked a kill to bring the Beavers to set point, and CCNY took a 2-0 lead in the match with a 25-16 win.

CCNY scored four straight points to open the first set, but Yeshiva stormed back to tie the score at 7-7.  Parks responded with a kill, though, and the Beavers rattled off 15 of the next 21 points to go up 22-13.  After a Tenzin Sherpa (Sunnyside, NY) service ace gave CCNY its first match point opportunity, the Beavers captured the next point to close out the set, 25-14, and the 3-0 victory.

Vukasin Bozic (Belgrade, Serbia) paced the Beavers with 10 kills, and he added six digs.  Abdullah Khalid (Hicksville, NY), meanwhile, hit .571, slamming eight kills without an error in 14 attempts.  He also tallied five blocks.  Parks registered five blocks and served two aces, as well.  Andrew Chan (Flushing, NY) handed out 32 assists, while Jonathan Liao (Jackson Heights, NY) posted nine digs.  As a team, CCNY posted a .205 hitting percentage (35-18-83).

Eliyahou Benhamou led the Maccabees with five kills.  Benjamin Goldstein distributed 11 assists, and Sibi Selvarajeh registered a match-high 10 digs for Yeshiva.

There were seven ties and four lead changes early in the first set of CCNY's matchup with King's.  The Monarchs eventually opened up a 13-9 advantage, but the Beavers rattled off four straight points to tie the score at 13-13.  King's responded with a 5-0 run, though, to go up 18-13.  The Monarchs extended that cushion to 21-15 before closing out a 25-20 set win.

The Beavers dominated the second set offensively, smashing 19 kills and hitting .500 in a wire-to-wire win.  CCNY led 6-5 when a Carlos Maldonado Madrid (Honduras) kill started a 7-2 spurt that made it 13-7.  After King's pulled within 18-15, Khalid ripped a kill to spark a 5-0 rally that pushed the margin back to eight points at 23-15.  A Parks kill gave CCNY its first set point opportunity, and a kill by Maldonado Madrid capped a 25-17 set win that evened the match at 1-1.

Both offenses were on fire in a back-and-forth third set.  Each side had 12 kills and hit over .300 in the frame, which featured 15 ties and six lead changes.  CCNY built a 9-6 advantage before King's scored six of the next nine points to even the score at 12-12.  The Monarchs eventually pulled in front, 19-18, but the Beavers responded with a 6-1 run to reach set point.  After three straight Joe Herman kills brought King's within one at 24-23, Maldonado Madrid ripped a kill to halt the King's run and give CCNY the set, 25-23.

Trailing 2-1 in the match, King's jumped out to a 7-3 cushion in the fourth set.  CCNY responded with a 6-0 run to go up 9-7, but the Monarchs answered back with a 12-5 spurt that put them in front, 19-14.  King's took the set by a 25-18 count to force a decisive fifth set.

It was all CCNY in the final frame, as the Beavers scored the first six points and never looked back.  King's pulled within three at 11-8, but CCNY captured three of the next four points to increase its lead to 14-9.  The Monarchs fought off four match points before Parks ripped a kill to finish off the set, 15-13, and give CCNY the 3-2 victory.  It was the Beavers' first five-set win since a triumph at Medgar Evers on March 26, 2019.

Parks and Maldonado Madrid notched 17 kills apiece in the victory.  Maldonado Madrid also had eight digs and two aces.  Bozic had three aces to go along with a double-double of 12 kills and 14 digs.  Chan recorded a double-double of his own with 51 assists and 10 digs.  Liao added 13 digs for the Beavers, who hit a combined .213 (59-26-155) in the match.

For the Monarchs, Herman had 24 kills on .385 hitting to go along with nine digs.  Sam Capwell finished with 10 kills and seven blocks, while Matt Piontkowski recorded 10 kills and six blocks.  Joe Jones, Jr., registered 11 digs and four aces, and George Beck dished out 42 assists.  Kyle Duggan tallied a match-high 16 digs, as King's held a 59-57 advantage in that category.  The Monarchs hit .218 (53-22-142) as a team.

After playing nine straight matches away from home, the Beavers return to Nat Holman Gymnasium on Thursday night for a 7 p.m. matchup with John Jay (2-9).  It will be the first of two meetings this season against the Bloodhounds.