THOROFARE, NJ – Freshman outside hitter Toni Moppert (Woodcliff Lake, NJ/Pascack Hills HS) posted a career-high 15 kills to pace a balanced Rutgers-Newark attack as the Scarlet Raiders upended Rutgers-Camden, 3-2, in a New Jersey Athletic Conference match. Set scores in the RiverWind Community Center were 20-25, 20-25, 25-18, 25-13, 15-11.
NCAA Box Score & Play-by-Play
The victory was the first of the season for Rutgers-Newark (1-13, NJAC 1-1) while the Scarlet Raptors slipped to 3-6 overall and 0-2 in the conference. Associate head coach Julia Shackford got her first career victory for the Raiders.
Moppert added two aces and seven digs to her totals, but she was not the only hero as the Raiders rallied from a 0-2 deficit.
Junior outside hitter Rose Anna Beljour (Hackensack, NJ/Hackensack) roped a team-high seven aces, posted eight kills and made seven digs while sophomore middle blocker Na-Keta Michael (Newark, NJ/West Side) chipped in eight kills. Sophomore middle blocker Crystal Navarro (Passaic, NJ/Passaic) tallied seven kills and delivered six aces as the Raiders enjoyed their best offensive showing of the season.
Junior setter Christina Francisco (West Orange, NJ/West Orange) chalked up a career-high 34 assists and contributed five digs and an ace while junior libero Val Dauti (West Orange, NJ/West Orange) had a team-high nine digs.
Beljour opened game five with a kill, then she reeled off five straight service points to stake the Raiders to a 6-0 lead. She served an ace during the rally and Rutgers-Newark got kills from Moppert and Navarro in the run. Three times, Rutgers-Camden trimmed the lead to a point – at 10-9, 11-10 and 12-11 – before Beljour and Moppert recorded back-to-back kills to bring the Raider to match point. A Raptor attack error ended the hour and 40-minute contest. Moppert and Beljour had three kills apiece in the fifth frame.
Rutgers-Camden took advantage of 18 attack errors and 10 service errors by Rutgers-Newark in the first two games to take a commanding lead, but things turned in game three.
Moppert had three kills and Navarro added two kills and a pair of aces as the Raiders won their first set of the season, 25-18, as Rutgers-Camden managed just three kills.
In set four, the Raiders capped the frame with a 14-2 run highlighted by a 7-0 run fueled by four aces by Beljour. The junior had three consecutive aces to stake Rutgers-Newark to a 19-12 lead. A Navarro ace and a Moppert kill completed the 25-13 set. Moppert had five kills in just seven swings in the frame and added ace.
Rutgers-Newark travels to Ramapo on Thursday at 7 p.m. for another NJAC test.
