NEWARK, N.J. (September 1, 2015) – The Rutgers University-Newark women's volleyball team rolled to a 3-0 sweep of Centenary College in the 2015 season-opener for both schools Tuesday night in The Golden Dome Arena.
 
The Scarlet Raiders won by set scores of 25-14, 25-9 and 25-15, never feeling threatened in the victory. Ten different players recorded kills for the hosts, led by nine from sophomore outside Hayley Merrill, five from freshman outside Cassie Luken and four from senior middle Sharee Gordon.
 
Rutgers-Newark (1-0) hit .120 on the night, going for a match-best .231 in the second set. The Scarlet Raiders combined for 45.0 points, 29 kills, nine service aces and 11 blocks, dishing out 27 assists as well.
 
Merrill finished with nine kills and three aces, while Gordon had four kills and three blocks. Sophomore outside Rebecca Ford had three blocks, with sophomore setter Nathalie Breining registering 13 assists and three aces. Sophomore libero Sue Riley had a team-high 12 digs, and Luken finished with five kills and seven digs.
 
The Scarlet Raider team defense was also strong, holding the Cyclones to a -.195 hitting percentage and just 13 total points. Freshman Vanessa McKellar finished with a team-high six kills, while sophomore Na'imah Spells picked up a match-high 21 digs for Centenary.
 
R-N 25, Centenary 14
The Scarlet Raiders recorded eight of the first set's first 11 points, getting multiple kills from both Luken and Merrill. The Cyclones came back with a point to make it 8-4 but a 5-0 spurt from the Scarlet Raiders all but put away the opening set. Lukin and Merrill kills were followed by a kill from sophomore Bryanna Urbaez and a pair of Centenary errors to make the score 13-4.

Centenary did come back with a 5-0 run of its own but a 4-0 Raider rally made it 20-11 before settling on the 25-14 final margin and a 1-0 lead.
 
R-N 25, Centenary 9
The Scarlet Raiders dominated the second set, opening up leads of 4-0, 9-1 and 11-2. Merrill, Ford and Luken all had multiple kills with Gordon, Ford and junior Tabitha Davis all picking up blocks.
 
The lead would swell to 18-5 behind a Riley ace, and a Gordon block ended the set with authority for Rutgers-Newark.
 
R-N 25, Centenary 15
After the Scarlet Raiders jumped on top 5-1, the Cyclones fought back, eventually taking a 9-6 lead on the back of an 8-1 rally. However, with the set score showing 10-8 in favor of the guests, Rutgers-Newark went on a 5-0 run to take a 13-10 margin. Sophomore outside Karolina Kopacz and Gordon registered kills in the set-deciding run.
 
A kill from sophomore middle Amber Borowski made it 16-11, and the Scarlet Raiders cruised the rest of the way to earn their first win of the season in convincing fashion.
 
Rutgers-Newark will return to action Wednesday night at 7 p.m. when it visits Saint Elizabeth at 7 p.m.