LANGHORNE, Pa. (March 22, 2016) - The fifth-ranked Rutgers University-Newark men's volleyball team returned from a 17-day layoff as it has many times this season, by winning. The Scarlet Raiders improved to 19-2 overall and 7-2 in the Continental Volleyball Conference (CVC) with a 3-0 sweep at Cairn University Tuesday night.

After a tight 26-24 opening set, the Scarlet Raiders won 25-9 in the second and 25-18 in the third. R-N will return to action Friday night with a big CVC showdown against No. 7 Stevenson University at 7 p.m. in The Golden Dome Arena. The Scarlet Raiders will be looking to avenge a 3-0 defeat in Maryland earlier this season.

The Scarlet Raiders were led by 11 kills from junior outside Jack Fredricks, 10 from sophomore outside Corey Pieper and eight from junior Nick Kuti. Sophomore Dom Gutowski led the Scarlet Raider blockers with four denials as senior setter Kevin McCandless and Pieper pocketed two rejections apiece, and McCandless dished out a match-high 35 assists. Senior libero Quocmy Nguyen had 10 digs, with Kuti notching seven and Pieper scooping six.

Rutgers-Newark hit .425 in the match, putting down 45 kills and making just 11 errors. The R-N defense held Cairn to a hitting percentage of .096, totaling eight blocks and 28 digs as team.

In addition to his setting prowess, McCandless had four kills (.571), and Pieper's 10 hammers came via a .533 attacking percentage. Senior Cody Chidsey had five kills (.714).

Rutgers-Newark 26, Cairn 24
After falling behind 16-11 in the first, Rutgers went on a 7-0 run to open an 18-16 margin. Chidsey served for most of the rally, and Fredricks recorded a trio of kills. The Highlanders fought back to tie, but McCandless set Fredricks for a kill and a Cairn (4-13, 0-10 CVC) error made it 1-0 in favor of the Scarlet Raiders.

Rutgers-Newark 25, Cairn 9
The Scarlet Raiders dominated the second set, jumping out to a 14-4 lead and never looking back. Kuti and Pieper each had multiple kills in the early going, and an ace from senior Travis Mintzer clinched the 2-0 lead and capped a 4-0 run to close the second set.

Rutgers-Newark 25, Cairn 18
The hosts led early at 9-7 in the third, but the guests came back to tie at 11 thanks to a Mintzer kill and Cairn error.

A 4-0 run for R-N featuring kills from three different players made it 17-14 in favor of the Raiders, and a 3-0 spurt punctuated by a McCandless/Kuti block pushed the lead to five (20-15). A Mintzer kill and Cairn error sealed the victory as Rutgers-Newark scored 4-of-6 to end the set and the match.

R-N is currently in third place in the conference standings at 7-2 with three matches left to play. Marymount University is in second at 9-2 with one CVC match left, and Stevenson is atop the CVC standings at 9-0. The regular-season champ will host the CVC Tournament April 8 and 9.