JERSEY CITY, N.J. (September 29, 2015) – The Rutgers University-Newark women's volleyball team earned its first New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) victory Tuesday night, sweeping host New Jersey City University, 3-0.
 
With the win, the Scarlet Raiders move to 1-2 in the conference and 8-3 overall. The clean sweep was the team's sixth of the season. NJCU drops to 6-7 overall and 0-4 in the NJAC.
 
The set scores were 25-14, 25-14 and 25-11.
 
R-N 25, NJCU 14
Rutgers-Newark jumped out to a 9-2 edge and never looked back in the opening set, using a nice service game from sophomore Sue Riley and a kill from sophomore Sydney Tuman early on. Up seven (13-6), the Scarlet Raiders would extend the lead to 10 thanks to a block from senior Sharee Gordon and an ace from freshman Cassie Luken.

R-N closed out the set on junior Tabitha Davis' serve and kills from Riley and sophomore Karolina Kopacz (two).
 
R-N 25, NJCU 14
Sophomore Nathalie Breining opened the second serving, and she propelled the Scarlet Raiders to a 4-0 lead, getting kills from Tuman and Gordon in the rally, eventually going on top 7-2 after a kill from Davis.
 
A Gothic Knight error and hammer from Luken pushed the Rutgers-Newark advantage to nine at 13-4, and the guests would go on top by 10 (17-7) on the back of a 3-0 spurt. Kopacz accounted for a kill late with a bad set sealing the 2-0 lead for Rutgers.
 
R-N 25, NJCU 11
The third set saw the Scarlet Raiders race out to a 5-0 advantage, again on the back of the hot serve of Breining. A Tuman kill accounted for point one, with an ace, a block from Gordon and Davis and kill from Davis following.
 
NJCU did not go away, fighting within two at 5-3, 6-4 and 8-6, but the hosts were unable to get any closer. An 8-6 set turned into 17-7 rather quickly as Davis mixed in a pair of aces and Kopacz knocked down a trio of kills.
 
A Gordon kill gave R-N a 20-11 margin, and the Raiders closed the match on a 6-0 run with Breining getting an ace and Davis pocketing her seventh and final kill of the night.
 
Rutgers-Newark was led by 15 kills from Kopacz who hit .387 in the match. Davis finished with seven kills, two aces and two assists, and Gordon had five kills. Breining carded 27 assists on the night, also adding a team-high four service aces, and Riley led a solid defense with 17 digs. Junior Kathy Hormaza, Davis, Tuman and Kopacz all had four or more digs, and Davis, Gordon and Luken all finished with multiple blocks.
 
The Scarlet Raiders were plus-30 in points (48-18) and hit .204 as a team. They doubled up NJCU in assists (30-15) and kills (34-17), had 41 digs and five total blocks.
 
Rutgers-Newark will now head to the Wildcat Classic in Providence Rhode Island for four non-conference matches this weekend. R-N will square off with the University of Southern Maine (6 p.m.) and Bridgewater State University (8 p.m.) on Friday to open the tournament.