NEWARK, N.J. (September 13, 2018) – The Rutgers University-Newark women's volleyball team returned to The Golden Dome tonight to win its third straight match over non-conference foe Sarah Lawrence University, 3-0 (25-17, 25-18, 25-19). The Scarlet Raiders improve to 5-2 while the Gryphons fall to 0-4.

R-N was led by sophomore Comfort Akinbo who racked up 11 kills and a .241 attacking percentage. Senior Cassie Luken chipped in nine winners and a .261 attacking percentage while junior Brione Lockett had a match-high 20 digs and sophomore Karly Gregoire orchestrated the offense with 22 assists.

The Raiders return to action tomorrow night when they host New England College at 7 p.m.

Rutgers-Newark 25, Sarah Lawrence 17
After an early back-and-forth that had R-N with a slim 6-5 edge, the hosts began to pull away. The Raiders won 11 of the next 13 points to open up a double-digit advantage that they would not relinquish. The decisive spurt featured a pair of kills from Luken as well as two aces by sophomore Dahlia Shoukry.

Sarah Lawrence was able to cut its deficit down to single digits near the end of the set but Newark closed out the stanza on a spike by Akinbo to win 25-17.

Rutgers-Newark 25, Sarah Lawrence 18
The visiting Gryphons attempted to wrest momentum from the hosts early in the second set as they jumped out to a 10-5 lead. However, the Scarlet Raiders stormed back behind a trio of aces from Shoukry and a kill by Luken to knot the score at 10-10, forcing a timeout for the visitors.

Following the stoppage, Newark picked up where it left off, earning the team's first lead of the stanza before Shoukry's serve finally came to an end with the Raiders up 12-11.

The home side gradually pulled away from there, building to a 20-17 edge before taking five of the final six points in the game to take a 25-18 decision.

Rutgers-Newark 25, Sarah Lawrence 19
An early 3-3 deadlock in the final set was broken by four consecutive points from R-N on a kill by rookie Sharon Starling, Luken ace, and a pair of spikes from Akinbo before a Gryphons' timeout.

Still, Sarah Lawrence was able to cut its deficit down to 8-7 after the break and fought to keep the stanza close. The visitors succeeded, not allowing Newark to gain more than a six point edge and drawing within 22-19 late in the stanza. However, the Gryphons would get no closer as the Raiders won the final three points, capped by a Luken kill and ace from Gregoire to take the set 25-19 and sweep the match.