NEWARK, N.J. (February 9, 2018) – The Rutgers University-Newark men's volleyball team continued its sterling start to the 2018 season Friday, sweeping conference foe Cairn University in The Golden Dome.
Rutgers-Newark pushes its winning streak to five matches overall and two inside the Continental Volleyball Conference, moving to 6-1 overall and 2-0 in league play. Cairn drops to 3-4 overall and 1-2 in the conference.
Friday's set scores were 25-10, 25-12 and 25-18 as the Scarlet Raiders hit .370 overall en route to the victory.
Rutgers-Newark 25, Cairn 10
The Scarlet Raiders quickly erased a 2-0 lead, ripping off eight-straight points to open an 8-2 margin after 10. Senior
Corey Pieper had a pair of winners in the rally, while senior
Ricky Crumlish delivered a trio of aces.
Crumlish put down a kill to put Newark up 16-6, with a Pieper winner locking up the 25-10 opening-set triumph.
Rutgers-Newark 25, Cairn 12
Behind Crumlish and junior
Arnan Romua, Rutgers-Newark took an early 3-0 lead in the second, and back-to-back kills from senior
Justin Sandy made it a 10-1 set after 11 points. Cairn made a dent in a 10-point deficit with three straight tallies to make it a 16-9 set, but the Scarlet Raiders quickly ended any Highlander momentum, closing the second on a 9-3 run to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
Rutgers-Newark 25, Cairn 18
The Highlanders scored 6-of-10 to start the third set, but 7-of-9 for Rutgers-Newark put the hosts up 11-8. Cairn came right back with five-straight points to regain the lead (13-11), and the see-saw continued with the Scarlet Raiders going back on top behind Pieper.
An error and kills from freshman
Travis Emenaker and senior
Jalen Sorrell upped the Rutgers-Newark lead to three (19-16), forcing a timeout. After the TO, Pieper came through with an ace, Sorrell picked up a solo block and junior
Brendon Frank put down a winner as the Scarlet Raiders slammed the door late to pick up their third sweep of the winning streak.
Rutgers posted 57 points via 46 kills, nine aces and two blocks, while Cairn totaled just 27 points on 23 kills and four blocks. The Scarlet Raiders also racked up 43 assists and 38 digs, hitting a match-high .550 in the first set.
Pieper led the offense with 15 kills and a hitting percentage of .440, adding six digs and two aces to his line. Crumlish notched nine kills, eight digs and four aces, while Sandy put down eight winners with a ridiculous .727 hitting percentage. Sorrell added six kills, Romua dished out a match-high 23 assists and sophomore libero
Jake Connors lifted a team-leading 13 digs.
The Scarlet Raiders will look to stay hot Saturday, hosting the College of Staten Island and the College of Saint Elizabeth in a tri-match. R-N will battle CSI at 11 a.m. and CSE at 3 p.m. and fans unable to get to The Dome can tune in live at
www.rutgersnewarkathletics.com/watch.
