Highlights

NEWARK, N.J. (February 28, 2017) – The Rutgers University-Newark men's volleyball team earned a 3-0 sweep of New Jersey City University Tuesday night in a non-conference match in The Golden Dome behind junior Jalen Sorrell.

The win is the second in as many matches for the Scarlet Raiders who improve to 5-11 on the season. NJCU drops to 5-9 with the loss. Newark returns to action with two matches in Reading, Pa. Friday night – one against Continental Volleyball Conference (CVC) foe Alvernia University and the other against St. Joseph's College – Long Island.
 
The set scores Tuesday night were 27-25, 25-19 and 25-14 and 4-of-5 Rutgers-Newark wins this season have come via the clean sweep.
 
Rutgers-Newark 27, NJCU 25
The first set was a thriller, and it was R-N taking control early with 4-of-5 to start. Two aces from Sorrell and a kill from junior Dom Gutowski pushed the Scarlet Raider lead to six (9-3), and another Sorrell ace made it a 16-11 set after 27 points.
 
The Gothic Knights battled, chipping away at the Scarlet Raider lead until the score was tied at 22. The two teams went point-for-point for the next several serves, but a Corey Pieper kill and an NJCU error eventually gave the Raiders a 1-0 lead.
 
Rutgers-Newark 25, NJCU 19
The guests took the upper hand early in the second, but R-N came back with a 7-1 run to take an 8-4 lead. Junior Justin Sandy and Sorrell had kills, and sophomore Brendon Frank and Pieper each had aces in the surge.

A Pieper-Gutowski rejection and an error from NJCU pushed the lead to a set-best six (15-9), and moments later a Sandy ace would make it 21-13 in favor of Rutgers-Newark as the hosts cruised down the stretch for the 2-0 lead.
 
Rutgers-Newark 25, NJCU 14
After a 2-2 start, four-straight tallies for the Raiders gave them a 6-2 lead, and a 6-1 run later in the set behind the serve of freshman Malik Patel and Gutowski made it 16-9 in favor of Rutgers-Newark.
 
Two kills from Sorrell and an ace from Frank upped the lead to nine (20-11), and four-straight points clinched the triumph after NJCU battled within seven.
 
Rutgers-Newark hit .190 in the match, but held the Gothic Knights to .000 in a solid defensive effort that featured seven team blocks and 29 digs. R-N finished the evening with 50 points, 35 kills and eight aces.
 
Sorrell led the Scarlet Raiders with a season-high 11 kills and a .450 hitting percentage. The junior added three aces and two blocks to his line in a sterling performance. Pieper added seven kills and Gutowski had six, while Frank joined Sorrell with a trio of aces. Gutowski (four) and Sandy (three) paced the blocking unit, while Frank dished out 28 assists. Freshman libero Jake Connors lifted 10 digs, with Pieper getting eight and Crumlish pocketing six.
 
Julian Moreira led NJCU with 10 kills, and Jonathan Andrews had nine winners and five blocks.