NEWARK, N.J. (September 21, 2017) – Senior
Morgan Schweitzer had 16 kills and junior
Cassie Luken had 12 kills, five aces and nine digs to help lift the Rutgers University-Newark women's volleyball team to a big 3-1 New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) win over rival Montclair State University in front of a boisterous crowd in The Golden Dome.
The set scores were 25-21, 25-22, 20-25 and 25-20.
With the win, Rutgers-Newark improves to 1-2 in the NJAC and 5-5 overall. Montclair State drops to 0-3 in league play and 6-5 overall. The Scarlet Raiders will visit non-conference foe Saint Elizabeth Tuesday before returning home October 3 for a meeting with NJAC foe Rutgers-Camden.
The Scarlet Raiders raced out of the gate, scoring four of the first five points in the match to take a 4-1 lead. The Red Hawks trimmed the lead to one (5-4), but R-N ripped off five-straight points featuring three kills from Luken to open a 10-4 advantage.
MSU trimmed the lead to one with a 6-1 rally later in the set, making the score 20-19, but it was not enough as the Scarlet Raiders closed the set with kills from Schweitzer and sophomore
Comfort Akinbo.
The two sides traded tallies early in the second before a 6-0 Rutgers-Newark run turned an 11-11 stalemate into a 17-11 advantage. Freshman
Dahlia Shoukry registered three-straight service aces in the run and Akinbo pocketed a winner.
Later in the set, MSU was able to get within two at 23-21, but Schweitzer delivered a spike to bring up set point and Luken closed it out with a hammer.
The third set was all Montclair State as the Red Hawks built a 24-15 lead, and they were able to withstand a brilliant serving run from Luken – who notched four-straight aces – to extend the match.
The fourth set was a battle. MSU opened an early 9-5 lead, but 6-of-7 from R-N pushed the hosts in front much to the delight of The Golden Dome crowd. The see-saw battle continued, and after the Red Hawks tied things at 16-all, two kills from Ford, a block from Schweitzer and an ace from Luken turned things in the Raiders' favor.
Moments later, Schweitzer came through with a winner to give Rutgers-Newark a 22-17 edge and after that it was all R-N, getting spikes from Schweitzer and Akinbo to close out the victory.
Rutgers-Newark hit an excellent .205 in the match, converting at a .324 clip in the deciding set. R-N finished with 68 points on 45 kills, 16 aces and seven blocks. MSU picked up 66 points on 49 winners, nine aces and eight blocks.
Schweitzer hit .243 in accumulating 16 kills, adding five digs and a pair of blocks. Senior libero
Sue Riley had 25 digs and five assists, while freshman setter
Karly Gregoire had 35 assists, five digs and three aces. Luken tallied a final line of 12 kills, nine digs, five aces and two blocks, while Akinbo had 10 kills and two blocks. Shoukry came through big-time with four aces and four blocks and sophomore
Brione Lockett and senior Chrissy Campenelli combined for 13 digs and four aces. Ford ended the match with four winners and two rejections.
The win over MSU is the first since the Scarlet Raiders beat the Red Hawks back on October 6, 2011.
Want more Rutgers-Newark women's volleyball? Follow @ScarletrRaiders and @RUNVolleyball on twitter!
