NEWARK, N.J. (March 5, 2016) – The fourth-ranked Rutgers University-Newark men's volleyball team won for the 18th time in 20 matches on Saturday, earning a 3-1 Continental Volleyball Conference (CVC) triumph over Eastern Mennonite University in The Golden Dome Arena.
 
Rutgers-Newark improves to 6-2 in the conference and 18-2 overall, bouncing back from a tough 3-2 loss to Marymount University Friday night. EMU drops to 9-9 overall and 3-5 in the conference.
 
R-N won by set scores of 25-21, 25-18, 22-25 and 26-24.
 
The Scarlet Raiders will now break before returning to action at CVC foe Cairn University on March 25.
 
Rutgers-Newark 25, EMU 21
Newark jumped on top of the Royals early, opening a 7-3 lead after a hammer from senior middle Cody Chidsey, and the two teams would trade markers for a large portion of the set before a 4-0 run from EMU tied it at 20-all.
 
A kill from sophomore outside Corey Pieper and two-straight errors helped the Raiders to a 23-20 margin, and after a Royal point, two-straight kills from junior outside Jack Fredricks gave Rutgers-Newark a 1-0 lead.
 
Rutgers-Newark 25, EMU 18
The two teams traded solid runs to start the second set, and the Scarlet Raiders led 12-8 after 20 points thanks in large part to a bevy of EMU service, handling and attacking errors.
 
A Pieper kill and solo block from Chidsey pushed the Scarlet Raider lead to a set-high five at 15-10, and after a kill from senior opposite Christopher Kopacz the lead was six .
 
Rutgers-Newark extended its to lead to as many as seven (23-16) before locking down the 2-0 lead on a kill from Kopacz and a Royal error.
 
EMU 25, Rutgers-Newark 22
The two teams went point-for-point early with the Raiders opening a three-point edge on the strength of three blocks (junior middle Nick Kuti, Fredricks, Kopacz, and senior setter Kevin McCandless), and a Kuti to McCandless kill helped Newark to a 14-10 lead.
 
The Royals did a nice job fighting back, using a 7-1 run to open a 17-15 lead and forcing a Newark timeout. The Scarlet Raiders were able to come back to tie at 20, but 5-of-7 down the stretch from EMU forced a fourth set.
 
Rutgers-Newark 26, EMU 24
Rutgers-Newark opened with 6-of-10 for a 6-4 edge, and the lead moved to a set-best three after a McCandless service ace. EMU, however, came right back, tying the set at 11 with a 3-0 rally.
 
A Kuti kill and Pieper rejection pushed the lead back to two (14-12), and a Pieper kill and back-to-back Royal errors made it 18-14 in favor of the hosts.
 
EMU would claw back to tie at 22 and 24, before a Fredricks kill and Kuti rejection propelled the Scarlet Raiders to the conference victory.
 
Rutgers-Newark struggled to find its groove but still earned the victory, finishing the match with 68 points, 56 kills, three aces, nine blocks, 54 assists and 24 digs. R-N hit .377 in the match, including an excellent .484 in the final set, holding EMU to .261 overall. The Royals totaled 63 points, 54 kills, three aces, six blocks, 52 helpers and 28 digs.
 
Fredricks led the Scarlet Raiders in kills for a second-straight match, putting down 16 by way of a lofty .609 attacking percentage, adding two blocks and a dig. Pieper had 12 kills, seven digs and two blocks, while Kopacz – making his first start of the season – was excellent in accumulating 11 kills and a hitting percentage of .643, securing four digs and a couple of blocks. Kuti added eight kills (.400), a match-high six blocks and two digs, with senior libero Quocmy Nguyen notching four digs. McCandless was strong as well, dishing out 47 assists, to go along with three kills, three digs and two aces.
 
EMU was led by junior outside Scott Brigham who had 16 kills and four digs and sophomore outside Tim Callahan who tallied 15 kills (.346) and two blocks.