NEWARK, NJ – Junior outside hitter Kalani Efstathiou posted a match-high 24 points on 18 kills, four service aces and four assisted blocks while chipping in 14 digs to lead Sacred Heart to a 3-1 upset of Rutgers-Newark in an EIVA Hay match in The Golden Dome. Set scores were 30-27, 32-30, 27-30, 30-27 in the two-hour contest. 

NCAA Box Score & Play-by-Play

Pioneer sophomore Roger Parent added 16 kills, eight digs and four assisted blocks as Sacred Heart (11-8, EIVA Hay 1-4) got their first league victory against Scarlet Raiders (8-13, EIVA Hay 5-2) who had already secured an EIVA playoff berth. The Pioneers took the Raiders to five sets before falling 3-2 on February 27 in their first meeting of the season.

Junior outside hitter Nate Stott tallied a match-high 19 kills to lead five Raiders in double-digit kills, but in the end Rutgers-Newark could not overcome 22 service aces and 36 attack errors. The Raiders had a 69-52 edge in kills while the teams each had 14.5 blocks. Stott also had a match-high 17 digs. 

Sophomore setter Tim Sadowski piled up 41 assists and added two aces, six digs and give assisted blocks for the Pioneers who also got 10 kills, an ace, nine digs and three assisted blocks from senior outside hitter Barry Smith. Sophomore outside hitter Jon Mercado had a match-high nine assisted blocks and added six kills on .545 hitting. 

Freshman outside hitter Eduardo Hernandez notched 16 kills, an ace, nine digs and four assisted blocks for Rutgers-Newark while sophomore setter Liran Shapiro came off the bench at the start of set two and amassed 46 assists, 10 digs and four assisted blocks. 

Senior right side Kenny Rienecker totaled a dozen kills, 13 digs, an ace and three assisted blocks while junior middle hitters Kenneth Stumbaugh and Jon Keller contributed 10 kills apiece. Stumbaugh had a solo block six assisted blocks, an ace and a career-high seven digs while Keller chipped in six assisted blocks. 

After taking advantage of 13 Raider attack errors to take set one, the Pioneers battled to a 2-0 advantage in a see-saw second set, overcoming a Rutgers-Newark attack while hit .310 (18-5-42) for the frame. Parent and smith had five kills apiece and the Raiders committed eight service errors in the crucial 32-30 decision which put the Pioneers in command. Back-to-back kills by Efstathiou and Parent ended the set. 

In set three, Stott and Hernandez had six kills apiece as Rutgers-Newark got back into the match, hitting .289 (17-6-38) as a team and committing just four service errors while getting aces from Hernandez and Stumbaugh. 

But in the final set, Efstathiou had seven kills for Sacred Heart and Rienecker notched seven for the Raiders, but a dozen attack errors provided the margin to end the match in four sets. An Efstathiou kills closed out the evening. 

Rutgers-Newark now has two full weeks to prepare for it's regular-season ending showdown with Harvard at 7 p.m. in The Golden Dome on April 17.