GLENSIDE, Pa. (October 14, 2016) – The Rutgers University-Newark women's volleyball team was defeated by Arcadia University, 3-0, Friday in the opener of the Knight Invitational.
The set scores were 25-17, 25-21 and 25-22. Rutgers-Newark drops to 11-10 overall and will face Brooklyn College and CCNY Saturday in its final two matches of the tournament. Arcadia improves to 10-11 with the win.
Rutgers-Newark hit .052 in the match, while the Knights converted at a .180 clip.
The Scarlet Raiders were led offensively by senior
Tabitha Davis who had eight kills. Junior
Morgan Schweitzer (six), sophomore
Cassie Luken (three) and junior
Karolina Kopacz (three) combined for 12 kills, and junior
Sue Riley tallied 15 digs, an ace and two assists. Schweitzer and senior
Kathy Hormaza each had eight digs, while Kopacz (13) and Hormaza teamed for 19 assists.
Rutgers-Newark totaled 24 kills, six blocks, 23 assists and 48 digs overall, while Arcadia tallied 46 winners, six aces, six blocks, 42 helpers and 47 digs. Sophomore
Nicole Polak led the Rutgers-Newark blocking unit with three.
Arcadia opened an early 10-6 lead in the first set, but the Raiders rallied to tie at 10, getting kills from Luken and Polak in the run. A 6-2 run for the hosts later in the set led to a 19-13 lead, and after R-N fought within three (20-17), Arcadia scored 5-of-8 to close out the set.
It was all Scarlet Raiders early in the second as they ripped off 7-of-8 to start, and the guests maintained a five-point lead (15-10) following back-to-back kills from Davis and Schweitzer. From that point, Arcadia took control, closing the set on a 15-6 run to take a 2-0 lead.
After small swings for each side early in the third, Rutgers-Newark opened a 14-10 advantage thanks to a 4-0 rally on the back of an ace from Riley and kills from Kopacz and Schweitzer. The Knights responded with 11 of the next 14 points to take control, and the Scarlet Raiders were unable to get closer than three the rest of the way.
Saturday's first match against Brooklyn is slated for a 12 p.m. start.
