Box Score

RIVERDALE, NY – Rutgers-Newark posted season bests for hitting percentage and total blocks to power past Mount Saint Vincent, 3-0, in the Peter Jay Sharp Center.  Game scores were 25-12, 25-18, 25-14.

Sophomore setter Kevin McCandless, who collected a match-high 10 digs, dished out 32 assists to stoke a balanced Scarlet Raider attack which hit .377 (38 kills, 12 errors, 69 attacks) while senior middle hitter Brett Pickens and sophomore opposite Travis Mintzer helped Rutgers-Newark pile up a dozen blocks against the Dolphins (5-3).

Mintzer hammered down nine kills with just one error on a dozen swings to hit .667 while getting in on five blocks. Pickens was in on eight of the Raiders' blocks while pounding down seven kills on 17 swings to tally 11 points.

Sophomore outside hitter Colin Ferguson had six kills in as many attempts to spike the Rutgers-Newark attack numbers as the Raiders (4-3) snapped a 2-match losing skid.  Freshman outside hitter Jose Mendez hit .500 with four kills and an error on six swings while rookie outside hitter Jack Fredricks posted four kills with a lone error on nine attacks.  Sophomore middle hitter Cody Chidsey hit .429 with five kills and two errors in just seven attacks.

The Dolphins, who saw a 3-match winning streak ended, were led by freshman outside hitter Jacob Johnson with nine kills and a pair of blocking assists.  Senior outside hitter Timothy Kolodny tallied six kills and junior setter James DiGiovanni finished with 18 assists, but Mount Saint Vincent hit in negative numbers (22-25-82).

In game one, Mintzer had five kills on five attacks as the Raiders hit .368 (11-4-19) and posted six blocks to lead wire-to-wire.

There were eight ties and three lead changes in the second frame before back-to-back kills by Ferguson and Chidsey put Rutgers-Newark ahead for keeps at 11-9. The Raiders inched away to take the set on a solo block by Fredricks with the team hitting a crisp .444 (16-4-27).

In the third set, Mendez, Ferguson and Pickens had three kills each as the Raiders lead all the way to close out the sweep.

Rutgers-Newark hosts Lee-McRae College on Friday at 7 p.m. in The Golden Dome Arena before beginning a streak of four straight EIVA road tests on Saturday at James Madison.