Highlights

NEWARK, N.J. (February 14, 2017) – Junior outside Corey Pieper and junior middle Jalen Sorrell helped lift the Rutgers University-Newark men's volleyball team to its second Continental Volleyball Conference win of the season Tuesday night as the Scarlet Raiders swept visiting Cairn University, 3-0, in The Golden Dome.
 
Rutgers-Newark improves to 2-1 in the CVC and 3-7 overall, while Cairn drops to 2-14 overall and 0-3 in the conference. The Scarlet Raiders will travel to defending CVC Champion Stevenson University for a Saturday afternoon match. Opening serve is slated for 2 p.m.
 
Pieper was masterful once again, delivering 18 kills, a hitting percentage of .382 and nine digs. He now has double-digit kills in 9-of-10 matches this season and averaged a sparkling six kills per set Tuesday night. Sorrell was excellent as well, hitting .500 en route to eight kills and adding six blocks to his line.
 
Rutgers-Newark hit .255 in the match, going .280 or better in 2-of-3 sets. Newark ended the contest with 56 points, 45 kills, four aces, seven blocks, 43 assists and 37 digs. Cairn hit .174, posting 42 points, 33 winners, three aces, six blocks, 30 assists and 32 digs.
 
Rutgers-Newark 25, Cairn 22
Rutgers-Newark built an early 7-4 lead behind kills from Sorrell and junior outside Justin Sandy, and after Cairn came back to tie, a 4-0 rally for the Raiders keyed by a pair of kills from Pieper forced a Highlander timeout trailing 17-13.
 
After the break, aces from sophomore opposite-setter Brendon Frank and junior middle Dom Gutowski helped the Raiders to a 21-16 advantage, and Pieper ended it with authority, putting down his sixth winner of the first set.
 
Rutgers-Newark 25, Cairn 22
Cairn scored the first three points of the second set behind the serve of sophomore setter Matthew Gump, but Rutgers-Newark responded, getting three kills en route to knotting things at 5-all.
 
A combo-block from Frank and Sorrell and a kill from Sorrell helped Rutgers-Newark to an 8-6 lead, and behind the serve of freshman Warren Hilliard the lead moved to five (15-10) and forced a guest timeout.
 
Cairn rallied within one (17-16) before Pieper ended the surge with a kill from the back row, and the Scarlet Raiders did what they had to earn the 25-22 win to take a 2-0 lead, clinching it on a Sorrell kill.
 
Rutgers-Newark 25, Cairn 21
The Highlanders scored 6-of-8 to begin the third, but the Scarlet Raiders chipped away behind Pieper and eventually tied the set at 12 after a Cairn error.
 
A solo-block from Sorrell gave the Scarlet Raiders their first lead of the set (13-12), and following another block and attacking error, Cairn called timeout trailing (15-12).
 
Newark continued to extend, playing solid defense and getting contributions all over the court. A kill from freshman outside Malik Patel made it 23-18, a Gutowski winner gave R-N match point (24-20), and Sorrell sealed it with his eighth kill.
 
Gutowski ended his day with four kills (.667), an ace and a block, while Frank had six kills, 17 assists, two aces, seven digs and three blocks in a very nice all-around performance.  Sophomore setter Arnan Romua totaled a team-high 21 assists and lifted six digs, while freshman libero Jake Connors had six digs and five assists.