NEW YORK – Junior right side Kenny Rienecker had 14 kills and five assisted blocks as Rutgers-Newark opened its first year in EIVA Hay competition with a 3-0 win over NYU in Coles Center. Games scores were 30-28, 37-35, 32-30.
NCAA Box Score
Rutgers-Newark (2-1, EIVA Hay 1-0) hit a solid .358 for the contest while getting double-digit kills from four players as new head coach Karl France had a happy return to the school where he served as an assistant coach last season.
Sophomores Nate Stott and Jon Keller and freshman outside hitter Grant Metheny chalked up 11 kills each as rookie setter Jeff Zornig distributed 55 assists. The Scarlet Raiders also got nine kills and five assisted blocks from sophomore middle hitter Kenneth Stumbaugh to gain a 9.0 to 7.0 blocking advantage in the match.
RAIDER VISION HIGHLIGHT VIDEO
Devin Zolnowski paced the Violets (5-2, EIVA Hay 0-1) with 14 kills while Jon Wintermeyer added 11 kills on .450 hitting. NYU entered the contest ranked sixth in the AVCA/CSTV Division III Coaches Poll.
In game one, a Rienecker kill staked the Raiders to a 26-20 lead before NYU ran off five straight points. After the teams traded three sets of kills, Rienecker ended the issue with a kill. Rienecker posted five kills on seven swings with no errors in the game while Stumbaugh had three kills in as many swings while getting in on two of the Raiders' four blocks. Rutgers-Newark hit .467 (18 kills, 4 errors, 30 attacks) for the game with Zornig posting 15 assists and two kills.
In the marathon game two, Stumbaugh and Stott hammered down kills to break a 35-35 tie in a game that featured a dozen ties after Rutgers-Newark drew even on an NYU attack error at 19-19. Keller had five kills on six swings in the game as Stott, Rienecker and Stumbaugh added four kills apiece in the finely balanced Rutgers-Newark attack. Zornig assisted on all 19 kills in the game.
In the final game, Stumbaugh posted a kill to stave off game point before the Violets committed back-to-back attack errors to end the evening. A Rienecker kill gave the Raiders a 24-21 lead before a service error and back-to-back attack errors pulled NYU even. That was the first of six ties in the nail-biter. Metheny emerged with six kills on eight swings in the final game and Zornig set up all 21 kills as Rutgers-Newark hit .342 in the game. Rienecker had five kills while Stott and Keller added four kills apiece in the game.
Rutgers-Newark now has repeated its two wins of the 2007 season over Mercyhurst and NYU with 25 matches left to improve on last season.
Next up for Rutgers-Newark is a weekend trip to MIVA opponents Loyola-Chicago and IPFW on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
The Raiders host NJIT on Wednesday, January 30, in their opener in The Golden Dome.
