NEWARK, NJ – Rutgers-Newark had four players with double-digit kills behind the setting of sophomore Jen Mendoza in a 3-1 New Jersey Athletic Conference win over Montclair State in The Golden Dome Rec Gym.  Set scores were 25-27, 25-17, 26-24, 25-22 in the 1-hour, 49-minute battle.

BOX SCORE & PLAY-BY-PLAY

Mendoza distributed a career-high 51 assists while adding 13 of the Scarlet Raiders' season-high 99 digs as Rutgers-Newark (3-13, NJAC 2-2) won its second straight NJAC match. The Red Hawks (8-13, NJAC 1-3) piled up 94 digs in the closely contested fray.

Junior right side Stephanie Touzan hammered down a match-high 17 kills while sophomore outside hitter Ula Nieznalska added 13 kills, an ace and a career-high 24 digs.  She was one of three Raiders to post over 20 digs in the match.

Senior outside hitter Toni Moppert piled up a 24 digs (match and career highs) while adding 11 kills while sophomore libero Paulina Walega notched a personal-best 22 digs while handling 34 serves without an error.

Junior middle hitter Rachel Witt added a dozen kills, an ace and the Raiders' only block of the evening.

Junior outside hitter Alyssa Batiste paced MSU with 16 kills and an ace while freshman outside hitter Daniella Salemo chipped in 10 kills and 17 digs.  Sophomore libero Kaitlyn Irwin had a team high 22 digs while handling 34 serves without an error.

Sophomore outside hitter Marta Topor added nine kills, a solo block and an assisted block for 10.5 points while freshman setter Angela Campo dished out 39 assists while adding 15 digs and a pair of kills for the Red Hawks.

In the first game, back-to-back kills by Nieznalska gave the Raiders a 24-22 lead before Salemo, Batiste and sophomore middle blocker Sara Girgus had kills during a closing 5-1 run by the Red Hawks.

Touzan notched seven kills and the Raiders hit .262 (17 kills, 6 errors, 42 attacks) in game two to draw even and set up the final two cliff-hanging games.

In the third frame, the last of seven kills by Batiste knotted the score for the seventh time at 24-24 before Witt closed out the game with a solo block and a kill.  Touzan had six kills in the set.

There were nine ties in the early going in the fourth game before back-to-back kills by Witt gave the Raiders a 19-16 cushion.  The Red Hawks trimmed the lead to one three times but could not draw even before the matched ended on a Touzan kill followed by an MSU attack error.  Batiste piled up eight kills in the final game to give her 15 putaways in the final two frames.

Rutgers-Newark is at NYU-Poly on Saturday to play in a non-conference tri-match beginning with a contest against John Jay at 1 p.m.