Arguably the most versatile women’s volleyball player in Scarlet Raider history, Robin Pearce literally did it all for some of the finest teams in the program’s history while achieving regional Academic All-America status as a student in Rutgers-Newark’s Honors College. She excelled even when injury threatened to end her playing days prior to her true senior season.
The California native finished her career as the program’s all-time leader in service aces with 292, digs with 1,484 and digs average with 3.96 per set while ranking second in points (1,764), points average (4.70), kills (1,407) and kills average (3.75).
The teams that she led posted a cumulative record of 77-35 overall while going 26-4 in New Jersey Athletic Conference regular season play. The Scarlet Raiders claimed a pair of NJAC regular season crowns while winning the 2003 conference championship tournament to earn the first NCAA Division III Women’s Volleyball Championship Tournament berth in school history.
She started off her career in Scarlet & Black in style. Pearce was named the NJAC Rookie of the Year in 2001 while earning second-team all-conference honors after leading the 8-team league in kills per game (4.67) while ranking second in aces per game (.76). The squad posted an 18-9 record, finished first in the NJAC regular season race with a mark of 6-1, and reached the ECAC South Championship Tournament semifinal round. She also garnered the Rutgers-Newark Female Athlete of the Year award for 2001-02.
Pearce was named to the All-NJAC first team as a sophomore, junior and senior while earning Verizon Academic All-America District II honors in each of those seasons. She earned the Rutgers-Newark Female Scholar-Athlete Award in 2003 and 2005.
On the 2003 NJAC championship squad which finished with a record of 25-9, Pearce set a school record and led the league with 100 aces while finishing behind teammate and fellow Rutgers-Newark Athletic Hall of Famer Domini Lanzone in kills per game (5.33). She ranked fifth among NCAA Division III players in kills average. Pearce also set a new Raider standard with 432 digs in the season – but she would erase that mark as a senior.
Multiple knee surgeries denied Pearce her true senior season in 2004 and ended her days as an outside hitter.
So she reinvented herself as an All-NJAC first team libero in 2005. Pearce established new program records for total digs with 454 and digs per set with 5.28. The squad went 19-7 overall and 6-1 in NJAC play behind her steady passing.
An exceptional student, Pearce earned the Rutgers-Newark Academic Achievement Award for posting a grade point average of 3.0 or better for each of her 10 semesters at Rutgers-Newark.
