NEWARK, N.J. (April 10, 2015) – The 14th-ranked and top-seeded Rutgers-Newark men's volleyball team cruised into the Continental Volleyball Conference (CVC) title match with a 3-0 sweep of fourth-seeded Thiel College Friday night in the The Golden Dome Arena.
 
The Scarlet Raiders will host second-seeded Stevenson University for the conference title and an automatic berth into the 2015 NCAA Division III Championship. The Mustangs swept Marymount University in the other semifinal Friday night.
 
With the win, Rutgers-Newark improves to 20-8 overall. R-N has now won its last seven matches and 20 of its last 23. Thiel drops to 11-14. The Scarlet Raiders won by set scores of 25-17, 25-21 and 25-13 and were only threatened in the second set as the match took exactly 60 minutes to play.
 
The Scarlet Raiders hit .360, including converting at a .462 clip in the third and final set. Sophomore middle Nick Kuti and junior middle Cody Chidsey led the Rutgers offense with 12 and 11 kills, respectively. Chidsey hit. 533 in the match and had three digs, and Kuti hit .476 with a team-high six block assists. Senior opposite Alex Barnhard had seven kills (.538), five digs and three block assists, while junior setter Kevin McCandless had 36 assists, three aces and four digs. Junior libero Quocmy Nguyen had a match-high 12 digs and four assists, and junior opposite Travis Mintzer notched four kills, four digs and four block assists. Sophomore outside Jack Fredricks had six kills and eight digs for the Scarlet Raiders.
 
Leading 5-4, Rutgers-Newark put away the first set with an 11-2 run to take a 16-6 lead. Four-straight points were scored on Chidey's serve, and the final four were with McCandless back deep. Thiel would fight within six, but the Scarlet Raiders rolled to the 25-17 set one win.
 
Rutgers-Newark jumped out to a 6-2 edge in the second, but Thiel battled, getting within one at 8-7, and tying the score at 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18. A kill from Fredericks broke the final tie of the set, and McCandless followed with an ace to give the hosts a 20-18 margin. Thiel got back within one, but a 5-2 run to close the set put the Raiders on top 2-0. Kills from Mintzer and Barnhard accounted for the final two points.
 
The early stages of the third set were back-and-forth, and after 20 points Rutgers-Newark held a slim 11-9 lead. From that point, the Scarlet Raiders erupted on a 14-4 run to seal the win, scoring the final six points in the match, five of which came behind McCandless' serve. Barnhard clinched things with a kill, and Kuti tallied three kills in the final seven Scarlet Raider points.
 
Rutgers-Newark and Stevenson met twice in the regular season. On March 6 in Maryland, the Scarlet Raiders prevailed in a tight match by a 3-2 final. In the second meeting on March 27 at The Golden Dome Arena, R-N rolled 3-0. Top-seeded Rutgers-Newark was 11-1 in conference play during the regular season, while the Mustangs were 7-5 (17-13 overall).  
 
Saturday's match will start at 5 p.m. and the winner receive an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament. Rutgers-Newark – playing as a member of Division III for the first time this season – will be looking for its first-ever CVC crown and first appearance in the national tournament.
 
For those unable to make the trip to Newark for the final, live stats and video will be available via www.RutgersNewarkAthletics.com.