GLENSIDE, Pa. (October 15, 2016) – The Rutgers University-Newark women's volleyball team cruised to a pair of non-conference wins Saturday at the Knight Invitational hosted by Arcadia University. The Scarlet Raiders opened the day with a 3-0 sweep of CCNY, and then did the same thing in their final match of the tournament to Brooklyn College.
Rutgers-Newark improves to 13-10 overall and will visit William Paterson University in a key New Jersey Athletic Conference match Tuesday night in Wayne. Opening serve is set for 7 p.m.
Did you know? The Scarlet Raiders have already eclipsed their 2015 win total of 12, and the ladies still have four more regular-season matches on the schedule.
Rutgers-Newark 3, CCNY 0 (25-12, 25-13, 25-11)
The Scarlet Raiders snapped a two-match skid in Saturday's opener against CCNY, rolling to the 3-0 sweep of the Beavers.
In the first set, Rutgers-Newark went on an early 8-0 run to open an 11-2 lead, getting kills from senior
Tabitha Davis, junior
Karolina Kopacz, sophomore
Jess Moy and sophomore
Nicole Polak. The lead swelled to 14 (21-7) following a Luken winner, and Rutgers-Newark closed it out on the back of a Polak hammer and Beaver service error.
A 7-0 run early in the second all but locked up a 2-0 lead for Newark as junior
Rebecca Ford and Luken delivered kills and freshman
Brione Lockett picked up a pair of service aces. A kill from Luken helped the Scarlet Raiders to an 18-8 margin, and Rutgers cruised the rest of the way.
Kills from Kopacz, Luken and Polak gave Rutgers-Newark an early 5-2 edge in the third, and a winner from junior
Morgan Schweitzer allowed the Raiders to double up the Beavers at 12-6. A Davis kill pushed the lead to 10 at 18-8, and a kill from Luken followed by a CCNY error clinched the triumph.
Rutgers-Newark hit .214 in the match while holding the Beavers to a -.071. The Raiders had 48 points, 38 kills, eight aces, 37 assists and 57 digs, and they held CCNY to just 13 points and nine kills.
Luken (.444) and Davis (.500) led the offense with 10 kills apiece, and junior
Sue Riley lifted an impressive 20 digs. Kopacz and Schweitzer each had eight digs, with Kopacz adding 20 assists, five kills and two aces to her line. Schweitzer had six kills, with Lockett (three) and Luken (two) each recording multiple aces.
Rutgers-Newark 3, Brooklyn 0 (25-21, 25-11, 25-11)
After a tight opening set, the Scarlet Raiders rolled over the Bulldogs to get win 13 of the season. Luken (.625) and Davis (.400) each had 11 kills to pace the attack, with Lockett (five) and Luken (four) combining for nine service aces. Ford and Luken led the blocking unit with one each, and Kopacz dished out 18 assists. Schweitzer (12), Riley (eight) and Luken (seven) combined for 27 of the team's 44 digs as the Scarlet Raiders hit an excellent .286 in the match, including .440 in the second set.
Brooklyn took a 14-10 lead in the first, but the Scarlet Raiders erupted for 8-of-9 to take an 18-15 lead. Luken and Davis keyed the spurt with a combined five kills, and a winner from Luken sent R-N to a 1-0 lead.
A 7-0 rally early in the second set turned a 6-4 lead into an 11-4 advantage after 15 points, and a 5-0 run behind Luken pushed the edge to 12 at 18-6. Rutgers-Newark cruised from there for the 2-0 lead, using an error, a Luken hammer and another Brooklyn error to close out the set.
It was all Rutgers-Newark in the third as the Scarlet Raiders ran off 9-of-11 thanks in large part to three aces from Lockett. The lead moved to 12 (16-4) with a Luken ace, with kills from Luken and Polak clinching the win later in the set.
Rutgers-Newark held Brooklyn to 28 points and 20 kills, getting 52 points of their own in the win. The Scarlet Raiders finished with 38 winners, 13 aces, 34 assists and 44 digs as well.
