PRINCETON, NJ – Rutgers-Newark sophomore outside hitter Nate Stott tallied 13 kills, but Princeton held off the Scarlet Raiders, 3-0, in Dillon Gym. Game scores were 30-19, 30-28, 30-28.

NCAA Box Score

Stott hit .269 (13 kills, 3 errors, 26 attacks) and added two blocking assists for Rutgers-Newark (4-9) and freshman setter Jeff Zornig had 30 assists as the Raiders hit .209. But, the Tigers (4-5) hit a crisp .370 to spell the difference.

Freshman outside hitter Grant Metheny hit .571 with nine kills and added five digs and two assisted blocks while sophomore middle hitter Jon Keller led Rutgers-Newark with four assisted blocks. Keller also had three kills on nine swings with no errors.

Princeton was paced by Peter Eichler with 16 kills and four of the Tigers' six service aces. Phillip Rosenberg added 11 kills while setter Brandon Denham piled up 40 assists and chipped in two solo blocks.

In game one, the Tigers hit .632 to win in a walk, but things got tighter in the final two games.

The Raiders ran off five straight points to take a 12-8 lead in game two. Stott kills gave Rutgers-Newark leads of 19-15 and 24-22, but Princeton reeled off four consecutive points, capped by a service ace by Eichler and a kill by Carl Hamming, to take the lead for good at 26-24. Rutgers-Newark and Princeton then traded points until an Eichler kill ended the battle, 30-28.

In game three, Princeton led 26-22 on a Mike Vincent kill before Rutgers-Newark rallied to knot it at 26-26 on kills by Metheny and Keller sandwiched around back-to-back attack errors by the Tigers. An attack error gave the Raiders the lead at 27-26 before a Rosenberg kill, a solo block by Denham and an attack error put Princeton back in control. A Stott kill made it 29-28 before an Eichler kill ended the evening.

Rutgers-Newark hosts Mercyhurst on Friday at 7 p.m. in The Golden Dome as the Scarlet Raiders enjoy Alumni Weekend. An alumni team will scrimmage the current Scarlet Raiders on Saturday at noon in The Golden Dome.