Volleyball Preview:

The Yeshiva University volleyball program may be one of the more interesting teams to watch this season. Hall of Fame football coach Tom Landry once said, "If you are prepared, you will be confident, and will do the job." In order for this year's Maccabees to succeed they must do one thing: be confident in themselves and each other.

Last year's Volleyball season was neither a glorious achievement, nor a major disappointment. The Macs finished 2-19, but showed improvement throughout the course of the season. Coach Juan Corona taught his players the fundamentals to a game that most of them had never played before.

Nat Montag (East Meadow, NY/HANC), a junior at Yeshiva University and a starter last season, believed that learning to play the sport properly allowed himself to trust in his own athletic ability. "Coach really taught me a lot about the basics of volleyball," said Montag. "As the year went on, I could see myself getting better, not only by my teammates encouragement, but by the results on the stat sheet."

Returning to this year's team are Setter, Joseph Bajtner (Chicago, IL/Ida Crown), Middle Blocker Dovid Katz (Monsey, NY/MTA), and Outside Hitter Jonathan Uretsky (Los Angeles, CA/YULA). Uretsky is this year's team captain, along with Libero Nachum "Huska" Huscalovici (Montreal, Canada/Hebrew Academy).Others coming back are Benjamin Markoff (Los Angeles, CA/YULA), Arthur Finkelstein (Toronto, Canada/Or Chaim), and Simeon Botwinick (Riverdale, NY/MTA).

Unfortunately, last year's season didn't end without some drama. Allan Azra, last year's captain, is not returning for this season. There was a rift between Azra and Coach Corona for most of the year and it finally reached its boiling point as the year winded down. While the team is going to miss Allan both on and off the court, they will have to focus their minds on one thing and one thing only: winning volleyball matches. "It was a bit of a distraction towards the end of the season," said Senior Arthur Finkelstein. "But Allan was a pleasure to be around and it's a shame that he won't be around the team for the upcoming season."

This year's team will have an influx of both new and old talent. David Kahana (Silver Spring, MD/Hebrew Academy of Greater Washington), a Senior from Silver Springs Maryland, played for the volleyball team two seasons ago and is returning again this year. Joining him is Zanvy Grauman (Silver Spring, MD/Hebrew Academy of Greater Washington), who looks to make a big impact on this year's team. Grauman exclaimed, "We have a great bunch of guys on this year's squad and I just can't wait to get my chance to play and make a positive impact as soon as I possibly can."

Rounding out this year's club, are Sidney Schechet, Yaakov Farkas, Jack Voystock, Rafi Herskovitz, Seth Schlessel, Harry Auster, Robert "Pudge" Schwartz, and Eitan Finkelstein. The amount of talent on the Volleyball team this year should help propel them to a better season. Senior Seth Schlessel (Woodmere,NY/HAFTR) stated, "I watched the team play last year and I saw them getting better from match to match. I am looking forward to being a part of the team and helping them progress this season."