Semifinal Preview | CVC All-Conference

UNION, N.J. (April 13, 2018) – The Rutgers University-Newark men's volleyball team gave nationally-ranked No. 5 Marymount University all it could handle Friday night in a Continental Volleyball Conference (CVC) Tournament semifinal match, but the Saints did enough to earn the 3-1 victory. The set scores were 27-25, 22-25, 25-21 and 25-15.
 
Rutgers-Newark ends its season with a record of 19-9, a seven-win improvement from 2017 and a return to the postseason after a one-year hiatus. Marymount advances to the conference title match against top-seeded and second-ranked Kean University.
 
"It's always tough when a season ends," said Head Coach Pedro Trevino after the match. "With that said, I am proud of the way the guys played tonight and all season long. They truly left it all on the court, and battled until the end."
 
Senior Corey Pieper led Rutgers-Newark, putting down 18 kills (.308) with four digs, an ace and a block. The veteran Scarlet Raider – playing in his final match along with Ricky Crumlish, Dom Gutowski, Justin Sandy and Jalen Sorrell – was named to the CVC All-Tournament Team after the match for his performance,
 
Marymount 27, Rutgers-Newark 25
Rutgers-Newark raced out of the gate, doubling up the Saints 10-5 early behind errorless volleyball, getting four early kills, two early aces and no early errors. Marymount was able to chip away, tying things at 15, and the set remained incredibly tight the rest of the way.
 
Senior Dom Gutowski delivered with a kill and a block on back-to-back plays to give Rutgers-Newark a 20-18 lead, but three-straight for Marymount put Newark down a score. The Scarlet Raiders would fight off two set points, but Marymount eventually took a 1-0 lead after a Rutgers error.
 
Stat Facts: The Scarlet Raiders hit .400 in the first set, and Pieper put down five kills with a perfect 1.000 hitting percentage.
 
Rutgers-Newark 25, Marymount 22
Despite the tough loss in the first set, the Scarlet Raiders came out on fire in the second, opening an early 11-5 lead thanks to two aces and some strong defense from Gutowski and freshman Travis Emenaker.
 
The lead swelled to seven after a Gutowski-Crumlish rejection (14-7), and an ace from Gutowski pushed the advantage to eight.
 
Marymount came back, trimming the Scarlet Raider lead to just three, but a winner from senior Jalen Sorrell slowed the Saints' momentum, and R-N closed things out with a Crumlish spike and Marymount service error
 
Marymount 25, Rutgers-Newark 21
Marymount came out and took 6-of-10 early in the third, but a 5-1 run capped by a monster spike from Pieper gave the Scarlet Raiders an 11-9 lead. After a Saint timeout, two errors helped Rutgers extend the lead to four (14-10), and a see-saw set continued as the Saints rallied back to tie at 18 following a kill from setter Micah Buller.
 
Emenaker and Sorrell combined on a block to slow the MU momentum, but the Saints found their footing late with a 6-1 run to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
 
Marymount 25, Rutgers-Newark 15
Sam Saffley had three early kills to get the Saints off to an early 5-0 advantage in the fourth, pushing the lead to seven (10-3) with an ace from senior TJ Wiechecki. The lead moved to 10 (15-5), but the Scarlet Raiders did not quit, using a 5-1 run to get within six (16-10).
 
Unfortunately, R-N could get no closer, falling by the 25-15 final.
 
Crumlish had seven kills, three aces and two digs, while Sandy had three winners, two blocks, an ace and a dig. Gutowski had four blocks, and Sorrell had three. Freshman Tuan Nguyen dished out a team-high 17 assists, with Emenaker handing out 12, and Nguyen lifted a team-high six digs and sophomore libero Jake Connors tallied five.
 
Senior TJ Wiechecki led Marymount with 18 kills and three aces, and Erich Bratke had 44 assists.
 
The Scarlet Raiders totaled 47 points on 32 kills, eight aces and seven blocks, hitting .103, while Marymount hit .241 on its way to 54 kills (63 points).