HARRISONBURG, Va. (April 3, 2015) – The Rutgers-Newark men's volleyball team improved to 18-8 overall and 10-1 in the Continental Volleyball Conference with a 3-1 win at Eastern Mennonite University Friday night.
 
The win moves the Scarlet Raider win streak to five and pushes the R-N road record above .500 for the first time this season (5-4). The Royals fall to 13-9 overall and 3-8 in the conference.
 
R-N dropped the first set 25-22 but responded to take sets two, three and four by scores of 25-13, 25-17 and 25-20.
 
After EMU jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first, the Scarlet Raiders answered to take an 8-6 margin but were unable to close, eventually going down, 1-0.
 
The second set was a different story as Rutgers-Newark jumped out to a 3-1 lead, and eventually doubled up the hosts (6-3) with a kill from sophomore outside Jack Fredricks. A kill from sophomore middle Nick Kuti pushed the lead to five at 9-4, giving the Scarlet Raiders their largest advantage of the match to that point.
 
Eastern Mennonite came back to get within two (11-9), but the guests went on an 11-2 run to take control, opening a 22-11 margin before taking the second set, 25-13.
 
Rutgers-Newark jumped on top in the third set early, moving out to a 7-3 lead behind three kills from junior middle Cody Chidsey and two from senior opposite Alex Barnhard. A Kuti kill and ace by junior opposite Christopher Kopacz pushed the R-N lead to nine as EMU could get no closer than seven the rest of the set.
 
Trailing by five (17-12) midway through the fourth and staring a decisive fifth set in the eye, the Scarlet Raiders erupted on a 10-1 run to put the match away. After a Royal error sparked the spurt, Rutgers-Newark ran off six more points on Chidsey's serve, eventually opening a 23-18 margin.
 
The Royals briefly stopped the momentum with a point to get within four (23-19), but it was not nearly enough as the Raiders cruised to the finish line to win the match 3-1.
 
Chidsey eclipsed double-digit kills for the fifth-straight match and sixth time in seven outings, hammering home a team-high 15 and hitting .423 in the process. Fredricks finished with 12 kills (.320) and five digs, while Kuti had nine kills (.533), two aces and two block assists. Junior setter Kevin McCandless dished out 43 assists, picked up a team-high three aces, adding nine digs, two block assists and one block solo to his line. Barnhard had six kills and six digs, with junior opposite Travis Mintzer notching five kills and six digs.
 
Rutgers-Newark hit .240 for the match, compiling 42 digs, four block solos and eight blocks assists.
 
The Scarlet Raider 'D' held EMU to a hitting percentage of .188, and the Royals were led by the 21 combined kills of freshman Dan Lutz and senior Marc Lovell.
 
The Scarlet Raiders will return to action Saturday with their final conference match of the season at Marymount University. Opening serve is slated for 2 p.m.