Box Score NEWARK, NJ – Rutgers University-Newark put up a battle in front of a spirited crowd in its home finale but Ramapo College came away with a 3-1 New Jersey Athletic Conference win in The Golden Dome Arena. Game scores were 25-23, 19-25, 25-23, 25-23 in the marathon which lasted four minutes short of two hours and featured 21 ties and 14 lead changes.
Playing for the first time this season without freshman setter
Nathalie Breining running the offense, the Scarlet Raiders (12-8, NJAC 2-5) got a career-high 12 kills from freshman outside hitter
Sydney Tuman to push the favored Roadrunners (18-8, NJAC 4-2). Breining sat out with an ankle sprain that she suffered in Tuesday night's NJAC loss to Montclair State.
Regular outside hitter
Karolina Kopacz moved to setter and responded with 30 assists, five kills, eight digs and four blocking assists while junior middle blocker
Sharee Gordon notched a match-high 16.5 points on 11 kills, four solo blocks and three blocking assists.
Sophomore right side
Tabitha Davis rang up career highs of eight kills and 17 digs while adding an ace for Rutgers-Newark. Freshman middle blocker
Amber Borowski helped the Raiders out-block the taller Roadrunners, 11-3, by getting in on four blocks while adding three kills.
Freshman libero
Sue Riley equaled her career high with 31 digs while sophomore defensive specialist
Kathy Hormaza added 22 to help the Raiders pile up 100 digs. Sophomore defensive specialist
Chrissy Campanelli contributed 10 digs and two of the Raiders' four aces while freshman outside hitter
Samantha Renfree finished with six digs, three kills and a blocking assist.
Sophomore middle blocker Emily Guzman and freshman outside hitter Larysa Iwaskiw paced a balanced Ramapo attack with 11 kills apiece. Iwaskiw added 16 digs and an ace. Junior setter Kaitlin Mac Iver dished out 45 assists and came up with 10 digs.
Roadrunner freshman defensive specialist Sarah Mulligan led the Roadrunners with 27 digs while adding two aces while sophomore libero Irmak Dagistanli posted 16 digs. Sophomore outside hitter Rachel Selmore totaled nine kills while junior middle blocker Katelyn Ward and junior outside hitter Cathryn Smart each had eight kills.
Tuman had five kills in the opening game but the Raiders could not hold onto a 21-19 lead which came on a kill by Gordon. A kill by freshman outside hitter Amanda Rose gave Ramapo game point at 24-20 before Raider sophomore right side
Hannah Riede delivered an ace between attack errors by the Roadrunners to put the score at 24-23. A Guzman kill ended the frame.
The Raiders pulled even in the second set with Tuman posting four kills and Gordon tallying three kills and a solo block.
Iwaskiw, who did not play in the opening game, hammered down seven kills in the third game to offset six kills by Gordon as Ramapo held off the Raiders who were cheered on a crowd of 214. Gordon had three kills and got in on a block with Kopacz to almost single-handedly spark a 4-1 spurt which closed the Rutgers-Newark deficit to 24-23 before Iwaskiw closed out the game with a kill.
There were 10 ties and five lead changes in game four, but Ramapo had just enough left to end the night. Borowski posted back-to-back solo blocks to knot the frame at 23-23 before a kill by Selmore and a Raider attack error finished the evening.
With their third consecutive NJAC loss, the Raiders slipped into a virtual tie with William Paterson (16-5, NJAC 2-4) in the battle for the sixth and final slot in the upcoming league championship tournament. The playoff berth could be up for grabs when the teams complete the regular season in Wayne on October 28.
Rutgers-Newark travels to Clarks Summit, Penn., to take on Rosemont College and host Baptist Bible in a tri-match on Saturday. The Raiders face Rosemont at 1 p.m. and Baptist Bible at 3 o'clock.
