NEWARK, NJ – Sophomore outside hitter Marcin Midura posted match-highs of 23 kills and a dozen digs as Rutgers-Newark rallied from two sets down for a 3-2 win over IPFW in The Golden Dome. 

Rutgers-Newark 3, IPFW 2

The Scarlet Raiders (7-9) won their sixth straight match by upending the Mastodons (8-10), 29-31, 25-30, 30-23, 30-24, 15-12. It marked the second win in a 5-set match after Rutgers-Newark lost the first five 5-set decisions of the season.

Sophomore outside hitter Eduardo Hernandez added 14 kills, two aces, eight digs and five assisted blocks for the Raiders who also got nine kills, three aces and six assisted blocks from senior middle hitter Jon Keller. Junior setter Jeff Zornig notched 48 assists, seven kills, a match-high four aces, a solo block and five assisted blocks for Rutgers-Newark while freshman middle hitter Mark Kochan added five kills and seven assisted blocks.   Freshman libero Tomas Goldsmith came up with 11 digs.

Junior outside hitter Darryl Shank paced IPFW with 15 kills and eight digs while getting in on four blocks. Sophomore outside hitter Ivan Matos tallied a dozen kills, eight digs and four assisted blocks while senior middle blocker Oliver Kook added eight kills, an ace and a match-high nine assisted blocks. Sophomore middle blocker Corey Frain chipped in 11.5 points on seven kills, an ace and seven assisted blocks.

In the fifth set, Shank had back-to-back kills to cap a 5-point rally which knotted the score at 11-11. Kochan and Shank then traded kills before Midura and Zornig posted consecutive kills to give the Raiders match point. Reserve sophomore right side Austin Pappas ended the night with his only ace of the evening.

Rutgers-Newark hosts Ball State in The Golden Dome at 7 p.m. on Saturday.