DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (September 28, 2018) – The Rutgers University-Newark women's volleyball team bounced back tonight to win a non-conference matchup at Delaware Valley University, 3-0 (25-18, 25-16, 25-23). The Scarlet Raiders improve to 11-4 on the season while the Aggies fall to 3-9.

Rutgers-Newark was led by senior Cassie Luken who had a match-best 10 kills in addition to 14 digs to record a double-double. Rookies Meredith Moore and Sharon Starling chipped in seven and six winners, respectively. Junior Brione Lockett had a team-high 17 digs while Starling joined her in double-figures with 13. Sophomore Karly Gregoire earned a different kind of double-double with 26 assists and 10 digs on the night.

The Raiders remain in Pennsylvania where they'll visit Cairn University tomorrow morning for an 11 a.m. showdown.

Rutgers-Newark 25, Delaware Valley 18
In the early going, the sides tied three times and traded the lead on an equal number of occasions but with the score knotted at 5-5, Luken helped the visitors gain an edge. Consecutive kills from Luken followed by an ace by junior Analis Capobianco had R-N up 9-5 and, while the Aggies drew within one at 11-10, the Scarlet Raiders would not trail again in the set.

When Delaware Valley made it a one-point game, Newark responded with five straight points including kills from Starling and Capobianco to pull away for good. Leading 21-18, the Raiders closed out the set with four consecutive points that featured a kill and ace from Luken before Starling put an exclamation point on the game with a spike off a feed from Gregoire.

Rutgers-Newark 25, Delaware Valley 16
The Aggies attempted to reverse their fortunes in the second stanza and quickly jumped out to a 5-1 lead. Still, R-N won seven of the next 10 points to even the game at 8-8 including a string of three in a row that featured kills by Luken and Starling as well as another ace from Luken.

From that point on, there were three more ties and four lead changes but eventually the Raiders took control. Trailing 11-10 the visitors won seven of eight to take a 17-12 lead while Moore added a pair of winners and Starling contributed a pair of aces.

Delaware Valley came within 17-14 but Rutgers-Newark closed out the game by taking eight of the last 10 opportunities as Luken capped the game with a spike to make it 2-0 for the match.

Rutgers-Newark 25, Delaware Valley 23
The final set was a see-saw battle that featured eight deadlocks and saw the lead change hands eight times. The Scarlet Raiders had an early 9-7 edge but four straight points by the Aggies put them in front 11-9 before extending their advantage to 14-10.

R-N fought back to take five of the next six points including aces from Gregoire and Starling in addition to winners from Luken and sophomore Dahlia Shoukry that had the score even at 15-15.

Delaware Valley was up next and countered with five consecutive points to take its largest lead of the contest at 20-15. However, the Raiders would not back down and a pair of Moore spikes helped the visitors knot the score once again at 20-20.

The home side would not go down quietly and earned three consecutive points as they attempted to take the set. In the end though, Luken came up big again as she had a pair of kills during a five-point surge by Rutgers-Newark to win the set 25-23 and finish off the sweep.