NEWARK, N.J. (October 1, 2016) – The Rutgers University-Newark women's volleyball team improved to 9-7 on the season with two wins Saturday in The Golden Dome Arena.
 
The Scarlet Raiders opened the day with a 3-0 sweep of Baruch College, and ended the day the same way, topping SUNY Maritime, 3-0. R-N is now 6-1 on its home floor in 2016.
 
Rutgers-Newark will return to the hardwood at Rutgers University-Camden Tuesday night at 7 p.m. in an important New Jersey Athletic Conference match.
 
Rutgers-Newark 3, Baruch 0
The Scarlet Raiders rolled in their first match of the day, sweeping the Bearcats by set scores of 25-19, 25-21 and 25-22 to improve to 8-7 on the season.
 
Rutgers hit .202 in the match, while holding Baruch to an attacking percentage of .107. The hosts totaled 50 points, 36 kills, 33 assists, 60 digs, five blocks and nine aces, and Baruch finished with 37 points, 30 kills and 65 digs.
 
Rutgers-Newark 25, Baruch 19
After Baruch was able to open a 7-6 lead, Rutgers-Newark went on a 5-1 run punctuated by a combo block from senior Tabitha Davis and sophomore Nicole Polak, but the Bearcats came right back by running off six-straight points to take a 14-11 edge.
 
A Davis-Rebecca Ford combo block knotted things at 15, and two Bearcat errors helped the Scarlet Raiders to an 18-16 advantage.
 
The lead moved to four after a Polak winner, and Polak closed it out with a kill.
 
Rutgers-Newark 25, Baruch 21
The Bearcats raced out to a 4-1 lead early in the second, but Newark came right back behind the service game of freshman Brionne Lockett to go on top 5-4. A kill for sophomore Karolina Kopacz helped R-N to a 12-9 lead, with a service ace from junior Morgan Schweitzer upping the edge to six (16-10).
 
The lead swelled to seven after a Luken ace and the Scarlet Raiders closed it out on the back of a slick kill from Kopacz.
 
Rutgers-Newark 25, Baruch, 22
R-N ripped off five-straight points to start behind the strong serving of Schweitzer, and the lead moved to nine thanks to a Luken ace and Kopacz kill (14-5).
 
Baruch came back to trim the lead to four (18-14), but a Luken-Ford block and BC error quickly gave the Scarlet Raiders a six-point margin at 20-14, eventually sealing the win on a big-time hammer from Schweitzer.
 
Kopacz earned her third triple-double of the season, notching 11 kills, 12 assists and 12 digs, and Luken had a double-double of 11 kills and 11 digs. Ford and Davis each had three blocks, while senior Kathy Hormaza dished out a team-high 15 assists and lifted seven digs. Senior Sue Riley had 20 digs, four assists and two aces, and Schweitzer had six kills and a pair of aces.
 
Rutgers-Newark 3, Maritime 0 (26-24, 25-9, 24-15)
The Scarlet Raiders were able to overcome a slow start to the first set to pick up the sweep and win for the third time in three outings.
 
Facing a 24-21 deficit in the first, a kill from Luken sparked the Scarlet Raiders who ran off five-straight points to get the 26-24 victory. Luken did the serving after the kill as R-N forced the Privateers into four-straight errors to steal the 1-0 lead.
 
The second set was all Scarlet Raiders as they opened a 7-0 lead on the serve of Schweitzer and never looked back as the hosts hit .478 and rolled 25-9.
 
With the third set tied at 12-all, R-N went on a 7-0 run to essentially seal the victory, getting kills from Kopacz, Polak and Schweitzer in the rally.
 
Rutgers-Newark hit .224 in the match, compiling 35 kills, 10 aces, 30 assists and 47 digs. The Scarlet Raider defense held the Privateers to an attacking percentage of .031 and 23 kills. Luken led the way with 11 kills and two blocks, with Polak getting nine winners and Schweitzer recording six. Schweitzer had a fantastic all-around match, adding 14 digs and four aces to her line – both team highs. Kopacz and Hormaza combined for 27 assists, and Riley and Luken combined for 19 digs.