NEWARK, N.J. (September 6, 2018) – The Rutgers University-Newark women's volleyball team cruised to a 3-0 sweep over visiting Pratt Institute Thursday night in The Golden Dome.
 
Rutgers-Newark improves to 2-1 overall and will return to action at Manhattanville College Saturday, squaring off against the host Valiants and Rosemont College. Pratt drops to 1-2 with the loss.
 
Thursday night's set scores were 25-14, 25-11 and 25-18.
 
Rutgers-Newark got off to a strong start, scoring 3-of-4 to start the match, and the hosts pushed the lead to four (7-3) following a cross-court winner from senior Cassie Luken. Another spike from Luken gave Rutgers its largest lead of the set at five (11-6) and forced a Pratt timeout, with a kill from junior Comfort Akinbo upping the Newark lead to 15-7.
 
Pratt responded with four-straight to trim the margin to four, but Rutgers-Newark quickly gathered itself behind the serve of junior Brione Lockett to build the advantage back to eight. Newark cruised from there, getting a Luken spike and Pratt error to lock up the 1-0 lead.
 
Rutgers-Newark raced out of the gate in the second, tallying 10-of-15 to start and extending to a seven-point lead after an ace from freshman Sharon Starling. Freshman Meredith Moore delivered a hammer to make it a 10-point set (17-7), and the Scarlet Raiders coasted to a 25-11 triumph and a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
The Cannoneers ran off 4-of-5 to start the third, but the Scarlet Raiders quickly found their footing, knotting things up, 6-6. The pendulum swung back in favor of Pratt as the Cannoneers scored five in a row to force an R-N timeout.
 
An ace for sophomore Dorcas Owusu pulled the hosts within three (12-9), and back-to-back aces from sophomore setter Karly Gregoire tied the set at 14-all. Another ace for Lockett put Rutgers-Newark in front 18-16, with a winner from Moore giving the hosts match point. R-N would quickly close it out as Starling set sophomore Dahlia Shoukry for the clincher.
 
The Scarlet Raiders hit a season-best .275 in the win, totaling 54 points on 32 kills, 19 aces and three total blocks. R-N racked up 30 assists and 32 dig, while the Newark defense held Pratt to a -.065 hitting percentage and just 20 total points.
 
Luken finished with seven kills, six aces and four digs, while Lockett had six aces, 10 digs and a winner. Moore had six kills (.600), while Akinbo totaled a team-high eight winners (.400) and two blocks. Starling had 13 assists and five kills, with Gregoire notching 14 helpers, three aces and two digs.
 
Outside hitter Megan Markley paced the Cannoneers with four kills and five assists.