CHESTER, Pa. (February 14, 2018) – Behind a near perfect performance from senior Corey Pieper, the Rutgers University-Newark men's volleyball team won its eighth-straight match Wednesday at Widener University, sweeping the Pride, 3-0.
 
Rutgers-Newark improves to 9-1 overall, and returns to action with a Continental Volleyball Conference (CVC) match in The Golden Dome against Thiel College Friday night. Widener drops to 0-4 with the loss.
 
The set scores Wednesday night were 25-11, 25-7 and 25-14.
 
Pieper put down 15 kills in the triumph, hitting .700 and adding six digs, two blocks, three assists and an ace to his line. Senior Ricky Crumlish had nine winners (.583) and two digs, while senior Jalen Sorrell had six kills (.625), two digs and two denials. Senior Justin Sandy had four kills, four aces and four digs, and junior Arnan Romua totaled 22 assists to lead the Scarlet Raider passers.
 
In total, Newark totaled 55 points behind 41 kills, nine aces and five blocks, dishing out 39 assists and lifting 24 digs. The Raiders hit an incredible .593 overall, including besting a .600 hitting percentage in both the first and second set.
 
Widener hit -.016 for the match, netting 20 points on 17 kills, two aces and one block.
 
It was the Pride that came out with 3-of-4 points to start the match, but Rutgers-Newark quickly gained its footing with an unheard of 16-2 rally to open a 17-5 lead. Sandy did most of the serving during the run, delivering all four of his aces during that span.
 
Rutgers-Newark locked up the 1-0 lead with kills from Pieper and Sorrell, and a 4-0 run punctuated by a Pieper winner early in the second had the guests up 10-3 in that frame. Later, the Scarlet Raiders ripped off an improbable 11-straight points to clinch a 2-0 lead behind the serve of Romua. Freshman Nicholas Arce-Cox put away the clincher, and Crumlish and Pieper each had multiple kills in the rally.
 
R-N scored 6-of-7 to open the third and never looked back, locking down an eighth-straight win and fifth-straight sweep with relative ease. Newark has now won 24 of its last 26 sets played and is a perfect 4-0 outside of Newark.
 
Eight different players had kills Wednesday and six put down multiple winners, with eight Raiders also lifting two digs or more.
 
The Raider defense once again dominated, limiting Widener to a match-best hitting percentage of .174 in the first set and holding the Pride down to a -.353 mark in the second frame. During the winning streak, the Scarlet Raiders have not allowed a hitting percentage better than .145, and they have limited the opposition to 23 kills or less in five-straight outings.
 
Friday night's CVC match vs Thiel is slated for a 7 p.m. start from The Golden Dome, and fans unable to make it to the Brick City can tune in live at www.rutgersnewarkathletics.com/watch.