Postgame Audio | Highlights
 
NEWARK, NJ. (February 16, 2018) – The Rutgers University-Newark men's volleyball team improved to 10-1 overall and 3-0 in the Continental Volleyball Conference (CVC) with a 3-0 sweep of Thiel College Friday night in The Golden Dome. The win is the ninth in a row for the Scarlet Raiders.
 
The set scores Friday night were 25-18, 25-8 and 25-9.
 
Rutgers-Newark got better and better as the match grew, hitting .290 in the first set, .379 in the second and a lofty .500 in the third. The Raiders converted at a .381 clip for the game, holding the Tomcats down to a -.063 hitting percentage and just 18 total kills thanks to some incredible blocking.
 
R-N racked up 50 points in the match via 40 winners, eight blocks and two aces, adding 35 assists and 45 digs. Thiel (4-7 overall, 0-5 CVC) totaled just 20 points, two aces, four blocks, 17 helpers and 31 digs in the match.
 
Rutgers-Newark 25, Thiel 18
The Scarlet Raiders opened an early 6-4 lead after 10 points, and back-to-back kills from seniors Ricky Crumlish and Justin Sandy staked Newark to a 10-7 advantage. A big-time denial from senior Dom Gutowski pushed the lead to four (13-9), but after a Thiel timeout, the guests ran off four-straight to get within two (17-15).
 
Two Tomcat errors and a Sandy kill pushed the lead back to five (20-15), and Newark closed the door down the stretch, getting a Crumlish kill and Thiel handling error to lock up the opening set win and a 1-0 lead.
 
Rutgers-Newark 25, Thiel 8
The hosts came out like a wrecking ball to start the second set, ripping off seven straight to force a Thiel timeout. Pieper had two kills in the rally, Crumlish had one and after the Tomcat timeout, Sandy and Gutowski combined on a block to make the score 8-0.
 
A beautiful dig from sophomore Jake Connors led to a emphatic kill from Sandy, giving R-N its first 10-point margin of the match, and a 3-0 mini-rally made it 16-3 in favor of Rutgers.
 
Senior Jalen Sorrell and Sandy pocketed kills to close out the set to give Rutgers-Newark a commanding 2-0 lead.
 
Rutgers-Newark 25, Thiel 9
Pieper led Rutgers-Newark to a 5-1 lead to open the third set, and after Thiel trimmed the edge to two, Sorrell put down a kill to slow the guests' momentum.
 
Gutowski hammered a kill to put Rutgers-Newark up five (12-7), and a Gutowski-Pieper rejection upped the margin to eight (16-8). A cross-court hammer from Pieper pushed the lead to nine (18-9), and a Sandy-Gutowski denial made it 21-9 Rutgers after 30 tallies as the Scarlet Raiders cruised to the convincing sweep – their seventh during the nine match winning streak.
 
Pieper had 11 kills, five digs and two blocks, while Sandy had 10 kills (.421), three digs, three blocks and an ace. Gutowski put down seven winners (.417) to go with a career-high six blocks and four digs, while Crumlish registered seven kills, an incredible .583 hitting percentage and eight digs. Connors totaled  a team-high 16 digs and five aces, while junior Arnan Romua (18) and freshman Travis Emenaker combined for 29 assists.
 
Rutgers-Newark will hit the road for two matches next week. The Raiders will visit CVC rival Cairn University February 20, and then head to Jersey City for a matchup with New Jersey City University on February 22.
 
Notes:
-Rutgers-Newark has won 27-of-29 sets during its winning streak
-The opposition has a negative hitting percentage in three-straight matches and 4-of-6
-The Scarlet Raiders are plus-158 in kills so far this year – 469 for, 311 against.