NEWBURGH, N.Y. (September 27, 2016) – The Rutgers University-Newark women's volleyball team was defeated by a score of 3-0 in a non-conference road match at Mount Saint Mary College Tuesday night in Newburgh.
 
Rutgers-Newark drops to 6-7 overall and will return to action Thursday night in The Golden Dome when it welcomes non-conference foe the College of Staten Island to town. MSMC improves to 6-12.
 
The set scores were 25-14, 26-24 and 25-20.
 
MSMC 25, Rutgers-Newark 14
The Knights doubled up the Scarlet Raiders early, opening a 6-3 lead after nine points, and after the Scarlet Raiders pulled within one, the hosts used a 5-1 rally to take an 11-6 lead.
 
A kill from sophomore Jess Moy pulled Newark within three, but the Mt. St. Mary answered to the tune of a 7-2 run to open a 20-12 margin, eventually taking the set, 25-14.
 
MSMC 26, Rutgers-Newark 24
A kill from junior Karolina Kopacz set the tone at the start of the second set, and after the two sides played even volleyball for the first 20 points (10-10), Rutgers-Newark would take command with four-straight points. Junior Rebecca Ford and senior Tabitha Davis combined for two blocks in the rally that gave Rutgers-Newark some breathing room.
 
A Kopacz winner helped R-N to a 21-16 lead, but the Knights came back to tie at 23 with a 7-2 run, stealing the set after fighting off a set point.
 
MSMC 25, Rutgers-Newark 20
The Scarlet Raiders had the better of the first 20 points in the third set, taking a 12-8 lead after back-to-back kills on swings from Kopacz and Davis. Kopacz and Moy then put together back-to-back hammers to extend the margin to five (14-9).
 
MSMC rallied back with an 8-2 run to take a 17-16 lead, but an ace from sophomore Cassie Luken on the heels of her own kill gave R-N a tenuous 18-17 edge. The hosts would come back to tie, and eventually closed out the set and match on a 4-0 run.
 
The Scarlet Raiders finished the match with 31 kills and a hitting percentage of .064. They dished out 30 assists, had three aces, 52 digs and six total blocks. The Knights had 38 kills, a .150 hitting percentage, six aces and 34 assists.
 
Senior Kathy Hormaza was the lead facilitator for Rutgers, handing out a team-high 27 assists and lifting 10 digs for a double-double. Kopacz led the attackers with 11 kills and five digs, and junior Sue Riley had 16 digs, two aces and two assists. Davis finished with nine kills, six digs and four total blocks, while Moy had five kills (.667) and four digs.
 
Senior Rachel Sabatini led Mt. St. Mary with 13 kills and nine digs.