NEWARK, NJ – In a nip-and-tuck battle, William Paterson came up with the big points to squeeze past Rutgers-Newark, 3-0, in a New Jersey Athletic Conference match in The Golden Dome Arena. Game scores were 25-23, 26-24, 26-24.

Freshman Adrianna Pagnotta paced the Scarlet Raiders (6-11, NJAC 0-5) with 10 kills and an assisted block while freshman outside hitter Veronica Chau added nine kills. Sophomore middle blocker Sharee Gordon tallied five kills while getting in on five of the Raiders' 10 blocks.

Rutgers-Newark senior libero Paulina Walega came up with a season-high 30 digs to lead three Raiders in double digits as the home team registered 87 digs. Pagnotta posted a career-high 19 digs while Chau equaled her career best with 18.

Pioneer freshman outside hitter Mary Long posted 17 points with 11 kills, a service ace and five solo blocks while junior middle hitter Shauna VanDeRee hammered down a match-high 16 kills to go along with an ace and a solo block. Junior setter Danielle Koukos distributed 42 assists for WPU (13-5, NJAC 2-4). Junior outside hitter Daniella Salemo added 13 kills.

In a defensive struggle, every one of the six Pioneer players had double digit digs paced by freshman outside hitter Erin Roach as WPU piled up 92 digs.

There were 23 ties and 10 lead changes in the see-saw battle and the Raiders led late in each of the first two games.

In game one, a Chau kill gave Rutgers-Newark a 19-16 edge before WPU reeled off three straight points on kills by Roach and VanDeRee followed by an ace from Roach to knot the score and set up a tense finish. The Raiders fought off back-to-back game points on a block by freshman Tabitha Davis and Christina Maglione and an attack error by Long before a Rutgers-Newark attack error ended the frame. VanDeRee had five kills in the opening game while Pagnotta paced the Raiders with four.

In game two, Rutgers-Newark led 20-17 on a kill by Pagnotta before the Pioneers went on a 5-point run to set up another nail-biting finish. A block by freshman middle blocker Hannah Riede and Gordon gave the Raiders a game point at 24-23. But a service error, a kill by Long and a Rutgers-Newark ball handling error gave the extra-point set to the Pioneers. VanDeRee had seven kills in the frame.

In the third set, the Raiders rallied from a 4-point deficit on kills by Gordon and Chau, a solo block by Maglione and a Pioneer attack error to make it 22-22. Rutgers-Newark bounced back from consecutive kills by VanDeRee and Salemo to level the tally at 24-24 on a kill by Chau and a block by Davis and Maglione. But VanDeRee and senior outside hitter Amanda Morales ended the night with back-to-back kills.

Rutgers-Newark visits the College of St. Elizabeth on Wednesday at 7 p.m. for a non-conference test before travelling to league-leading Richard Stockton (22-5, NJAC 5-0) on Thursday for an NJAC match.