AVCA Release
2016 Rutgers-Newark Schedule
NEWARK, N.J. (January 6, 2016) - Coming off a trip to the national quarterfinals, the Rutgers University-Newark men's volleyball team is ranked eighth to start 2016 according to the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division III Men's Coaches Top-15 Poll, it was announced Wednesday afternoon.
Rutgers-Newark won the 2015 Continental Volleyball Conference (CVC) title to earn the conference's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament. The Scarlet Raiders then went on to sweep an NCAA first round match against Endicott College in The Golden Dome Arena before seeing their historic postseason run come to an end in the 'Elite Eight' at the hands of preseason No. 1 Springfield College.
R-N finished last year ranked No. 12 nationally, boasting a record of 22-10 overall and 11-1 in the conference. The Scarlet Raiders return all three all-conference performers from a year ago in seniors
Cody Chidsey,
Kevin McCandless and
Quocmy Nguyen in addition to CVC All-Tournament Team picks McCandless, junior
Jack Fredricks and senior
Travis Mintzer. Chidsey was an AVCA All-American and an All-ECAC selection as well, and the 2016 squad lost just one player to graduation in
Alex Barnhard.
CVC rivals Juniata College and Stevenson University are both ranked as Juniata checks in at No. 7 and Stevenson at No. 14. Stevens Institute of Technology is the only other New Jersey institution in the poll, currently sitting at No. 2.
Rutgers-Newark will take on many schools in the preseason national top-15 ranks this year, squaring off with Stevens (January 16) to open the season and again later on in the schedule (February 20), twice battling Juniata (February 26, April 1) and Stevenson (February 6, March 25) as well. The Scarlet Raiders will also square off with No. 4 Nazareth College, No. 9 New York University and No. 15 Mount St. Joseph's University.
Complete Rankings (first-place votes)1. Springfield (8)
2. Stevens (6)
3. SUNY New Paltz (2)
4. Nazareth (1)
5. UC Santa Cruz
6. Carthage
7. Juniata
8. Rutgers-Newark
9. NYU
10. Baruch
11. Kean
12. Elmira
13. Dominican
14. Stevenson
15. Mount St. Joseph
Rutgers-Newark hosts The Golden Dome Classic to start its season on January 16 and will take part in the Johnson & Wales Tournament and the Kean University Tournament the next two weekends. R-N opens conference play on February 6 at Stevenson and the team's home finale will be Tuesday, March 29. The regular-season finale is at Thiel College on April 2 with the CVC Tournament slated for April 8 and 9 at the regular-season conference champion.
The 2016 Scarlet Raider roster will be posted by Friday, January 8 with a full season preview set to be released at
www.rutgersnewarkathletics.com on January 13 or 14. Fans can follow @ScarletRaiders or @RUNVolleyball on twitter for the latest on Scarlet Raider men's volleyball.
