MONTCLAIR, N.J. (October 30, 2018) – The fifth-seeded Rutgers University-Newark women's volleyball team lost its New Jersey Athletic Conference Championship Tournament first round matchup at fifth-seed Montclair State University tonight, 3-0 (25-18, 25-4, 25-22).

The Red Hawks move on to the tournament semifinals and improve to 19-9 on the season while the Scarlet Raiders fall to 16-11 and look to continue their season in the Eastern College Athletic Conference postseason tournament.

Rutgers-Newark was led by rookie Sharon Starling who had eight kills while senior Cassie Luken added seven winners and five digs. Sophomore Karly Gregoire led the squad with 20 assists and two service aces. Junior Brione Lockett had a team-best 13 digs as the defensive specialist.

The Raiders got off to a great start with a Starling kill and Gregoire ace but soon the teams were locked in a see-saw battle. There were seven ties and seven lead changes as neither side could grab control.

Newark's last lead of the stanza came on another Starling winner that made it 12-11 but the Red Hawks would take the next three points and would not relinquish their edge.

The visitors remained close and were within 18-17, however MSU finally pulled away with a 7-1 surge that won the set, 25-18.

The Red Hawks carried their momentum from that late first game surge into the second, cruising to a 2-0 lead for the match with a dominant 25-4 victory.

The third set returned to a pattern more reminiscent of the opening stanza as the teams went back-and-forth with neither side managing to gain a lead larger than three points.

This game featured an incredible nine deadlocks and saw the lead change hands on nine separate occasions. The Scarlet Raiders got off to a hot start, taking four of the first five points including a kill by Luken and ace from Gregoire.

The visitors maintained that slim three point edge at 5-2 on a spike by junior Comfort Akinbo and at 6-3 but that would represent their largest advantage of the match.

Montclair State tallied four straight points to take a 7-6 lead and from there the sides would be locked in a tight battle.

Trailing 18-15, R-N rallied to win five of seven opportunities to even the set at 19-19, featuring a Luken winner and huge block by Akinbo and sophomore Dahlia Shoukry.   

Another Akinbo spike had the game knotted at 20-20 but that would be the final tie of the match.

The Red Hawks gained a 24-21 edge and while the Raiders were able to fight off one match point with an Akinbo kill, the hosts took the next point to win the set 25-22 and match 3-0.