NEWARK, N.J. (January 16, 2016) – The eighth-ranked Rutgers University-Newark men's volleyball team opened the season with a statement win Saturday in the first match of The Golden Dome Classic, sweeping second-ranked and defending national champ Stevens Institute of Technology, 3-0. R-N also swept the nightcap, defeating the College of Mount Saint Vincent (25-9, 25-13, 25-11).
 
The set scores in the Stevens (1-0) match were 25-21, 25-22 and 25-22 as the Scarlet Raiders (2-0) showed their talent, versatility, explosiveness and resiliency in the three-set win.
 
Junior outside Jack Fredricks paced the Raiders with 12 kills, as the hosts received nine from sophomore outside Corey Pieper and seven from senior opposite Travis Mintzer. Pieper (two) and senior middle Cody Chidsey (one) had the three Scarlet Raider aces, while junior middle Nick Kuti paced the team in blocks with four. Senior setter Kevin McCandless dished out 32 assists in the three sets, while Fredricks (13) and senior libero Quocmy Nguyen (10) each tallied double-digit digs.
 
Stevens was led by 12 kills from senior Tim Ferriter who also had two aces.
 
Rutgers-Newark 25, Stevens 21
The early parts of the first set saw runs from each side, and after 20 points in all the set was tied at 10 apiece. Four-straight points on the serve of Pieper – who had both his aces in the spurt – gave the Scarlet Raiders a 14-10 margin, but the Ducks trimmed the lead to one before a hammer from Fredricks gave the Raiders some breathing room (18-16) and two-straight points on the service game of Chidsey helped forced a Stevens timeout down 20-16.
 
The Newark momentum kept rolling with back-to-back blocks, and a Stevens error to made it 23-16 before a Mintzer hammer gave Rutgers-Newark set point.  Stevens ran off several points, but it was not nearly enough as Mintzer banged home the winner on a nice effort from McCandless to put R-N up 1-0.
 
Rutgers-Newark 25, Stevens 22
Rutgers-Newark began the second set like it ended the first, scoring six of the first eight points to take a 6-2 edge, and after going back-and-forth over the next several scores, the Scarlet Raiders opened a 15-10 margin.
 
Stevens clawed back, and after an ace from senior Chris Vaughan, forced a Raider timeout clinging to a one-point lead (16-15). R-N scored 2-of-3 to push the margin back to three, but Stevens came back to tie the set at 20 before a big-time Fredricks kill slowed the momentum and put R-N back on top.
 
A Duck error and another Fredricks tally gave the Raiders a 23-20 edge and forced a Stevens timeout, with a Chidsey kill giving the Raiders set point. SIT tallied the next two to pull within two, but Fredricks slammed the door with a kill on a perfect McCandless set to help R-N to a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
Rutgers-Newark 25, Stevens 22
The Scarlet Raiders seemed to turn it on even further in the early stages of the third, jumping out to a 9-4 lead behind kills from Chidsey and Kuti, and after Stevens responded with a couple points, Fredricks put down a massive kill to ignite the crowd.
 
Stevens would not go quietly, running off five-straight points to tie things at 11 and force an R-N timeout, but the Raiders responded with a kill from McCandless and a Kuti/Fredricks combo block. The see-saw set continued as the Ducks opened an 18-15 margin following a kill from senior Tim Ferriter.
 
An error and kills from Pieper and Fredricks saw the Scarlet Raider resiliency on full display to tie the set at 20, and R-N eventually went on top 22-21 forcing a Stevens timeout.
 
The two teams traded points after the break, but a Stevens service error and Mintzer kill put an end to the match and gave the Scarlet Raiders a 1-0 start to their season.
 
Stevens hit .160 in the match, compiling 35 kills, five aces, eight blocks, 30 assists and 30 digs. Rutgers-Newark hit .247 overall and a match-best .387 in the third, finishing the match with 52 points, 42 kills, three aces, seven blocks, 36 helpers and 44 digs.
 
Chidsey hit .750 and picked up six kills, while Fredrick's 12 hammers came from a .292 attacking percentage.
 
Rutgers-Newark 3, Mount Saint Vincent 0
Rutgers-Newark rolled in the first set, winning 25-9 to take a 1-0 lead in the match. The Raiders totaled 10 kills and 16 points, hitting an excellent .471 and racking up three service aces. Kuti, Chidsey and Pieper all had multiple kills in the first.
 
The two sides went back and forth in the second, with the Scarlet Raiders taking a 13-8 edge following an ace from Pieper. MSV (0-4) trimmed the lead to three, but two errors assisted R-N in upping the edge back to five.
 
A Mintzer kill (from Nguyen)  and an attack error from the Dolphins gave Rutgers a 20-11 lead, and a kill from sophomore outside Justin Sandy helped the Raiders to their first double-digit lead of the set at 22-12 which all but sealed the 2-0 match lead.
 
The third set was much of the same for R-N as the hosts cruised to a big 20-10 lead behind Sandy, Fredricks and sophomore middle Dom Gutowksi, eventually settling on a 25-11 set final.
 
The Scarlet Raiders hit an excellent .438 in the match, including .565 in the third set, totaling 33 kills and just five errors, also picking up 13 aces, 11 blocks and 25 digs. The R-N defense held MSV a -.026 hitting percentage and just 19 kills (21 errors) on 78 attacks.
 
Sandy and Fredricks each had seven kills, with Kuti getting six as McCandless (four), Fredricks (three) and Pieper (two) led the R-N servers. Kuti had seven blocks and Fredricks had five, and McCandless totaled 23 assists. Fredricks, McCandless and Mintzer each accumulated five or more digs.
 
Rutgers-Newark will return to action at the Johnson and Whales Tournament next weekend in Providence, R.I.