NEWARK, NJ – Senior right side Austin Pappas led Rutgers-Newark to a 3-2 upset of NJIT in an EIVA match in Fleisher Center.  Games scores were 25-21, 14-25, 23-25, 27-25, 15-13.

BOX SCORE

Pappas posted match highs of 25.5 points, 21 kills and four aces as the Scarlet Raiders (10-13, EIVA 2-10) downed the Highlanders (10-15, EVIA 4-6) for the first time in three meetings this season.  His point total was a team individual high for the season as the Raiders won in five sets for only the second time this season.

Senior outside hitter Grant Metheny added personal season highs of 18.5 points and 16 kills while freshman setter Manuel Felipez piled up 49 assists and added two aces.  Metheny added a team-high 11 digs while senior libero Zack Chambers came up with eight.

Senior outside hitter Marcin Midura contributed nine kills while senior middle hitter Parth Vedawala, who was playing in his first match of the season as an emergency reserve, came up big with a team-high five assisted blocks, two kills and a pair of aces.

A Pappas kill followed by an NJIT attack error ended the tight battle as the senior piled up six kills in the final frame.

The Raiders forced a fifth game when Pappas recorded six kills and three aces in a nip-and-tuck fourth frame.  Rutgers-Newark fought off a match point at 24-23 on a kill by Metheny.  Back-to-back kills by Midura and freshman middle hitter Lorenzo Samin closed out the 27-25 win which breathed new life into the Raiders.

After Rutgers-Newark took the first game, the Highlanders hit .444 (10 kills, 2 errors, 18 kills) in game two and .469 (18-3-32) in game three to seize control of the match.  But the Raiders refused to fold.

Rutgers-Newark celebrates Senior Night on Saturday in an EIVA match against Harvard at 7 p.m. in The Golden Dome.  Pappas, Metheny, Midura, Vedawala and Chambers will play their final matches in Scarlet & Black.