BRYN ATHYN, Pa. (September 12, 2015) – The Rutgers University-Newark women's volleyball team split a pair of matches at Bryn Athyn College, defeating the host Lions, 3-1, before dropping a 3-1 decision against King's College.
 
In the opener, R-N pushed its record to 6-0, winning by set scores of 25-27, 25-14, 25-18 and 25-23. Against King's, the Scarlet Raiders lost 31-33, 25-17, 22-25 and 13-25. Bryn Athyn fell to 4-2 on the season, while King's moved to 7-0.
 
Rutgers-Newark will take a 6-1 record into its New Jersey Athletic Conference opener which is slated for Tuesday night at 7 p.m. against Kean University in The Golden Dome Arena.
 
Please note there are no play-by-plays for use in these match recaps.
 
R-N 3, Bryn Athyn 1
Leading the Scarlet Raiders in the opener was sophomore setter Nathalie Breining who dished out 13 assists to go along with a team-high four service aces, three kills and three digs.
 
Senior middle Sharee Gordon picked up a team-high six kills and a team-high five block assists, with sophomore Hayley Merrill registering five kills, three service aces, four block assists and a block solo. Junior Tabitha Davis tallied five kills and three block assists.
 
Rutgers-Newark had 10 service aces as a team, piling up 25 kills, 19 assists, nine block assists and 75 digs. Sophomore Sue Riley led the way with 25 of those digs and also had two service aces, while Merril picked up 23 digs and sophomore Karolina Kopacz added 12 to go with three kills.
 
R-N accumulated 45 points as a team, led by 11 from Merrill. The Scarlet Raiders hit .029 as a team.
 
King's 3, R-N 1
The Scarlet Raiders bounced back after a grueling 33-31 opening-set defeat, but could not get over the hump in the team's first loss of the season.
 
Merrill put up excellent numbers, recording 14 kills and 26 digs in her second double-double of the week. Gordon notched eight kills and four blocks, with Breining again turning in a strong performance, totaling 23 assists and seven digs. Riley had 20 digs, and Davis had six kills and 17 digs.
 
Rutgers-Newark hit .156 as a team and recorded 90 digs. Kopacz had eight digs and six kills, with freshman Analis Capobianco tallying 10 digs. The Raiders totaled 47.5 points, led by the 15.5 of Merrill and 10 from Gordon.