NEWARK, N.J. (January 19, 2019) – The Rutgers University-Newark men's volleyball team began its 2019 campaign with a tri-match in The Golden Dome featuring Lehman College and Division I NJIT. The Scarlet Raiders split their contests, defeating Lehman 3-0 before falling to NJIT 3-0 as the squad moves to 1-1. NJIT is now 3-4 on the season after winning both matchups while Lehman is 0-2 after dropping both.

The Raiders return to action next Saturday for a tri-match hosted by Vassar College with matches against the hosts and Emmanuel College beginning at 1 p.m.

Rutgers-Newark 3, Lehman 0 (25-5, 25-11, 25-11)
The Raiders cruised past the visiting Lightning in the first match of the season for both teams. R-N got off to a great start, winning the first seven points of the contest including a pair of kills by sophomore Kyle Loesner and a pair of aces from rookie Arvind Kumar.

The home squad only piled on from there, opening up a 16-2 advantage that featured winners from three different players with freshman Elan Dorkhman piling up three spikes in that stretch.

The Scarlet Raiders would go on to a 25-5 first set victory.

Newark kept its momentum going in the second stanza as the hosts led wire-to-wire once again.

The Lightning kept it closer earlier as they drew within 5-4. Still, the Raiders won the next four points including three kills from three different hitters.

Leading 15-10, R-N finally pulled away with seven consecutive points that featured four straight aces from Kumar. The home side would take the set 25-11.

In the final set, the Scarlet Raiders conceded the first point before reeling off five in a row.

Following another visitor tally, Newark rattled off six consecutive scores including three aces from freshman Eric Hollenbach as the team opened up an 11-2 lead.

Up 16-7, the Raiders ended the set and match on a 9-4 stretch that featured kills from five different players as rookie Curtis Chance capped it off with a spike to secure the 25-11 win in the third and sweep for the contest.

Rutgers-Newark had incredible attacking percentages in the first two sets, racking up a .737 hitting percentage in the first with 15 kills and just one error while recording 13 winners to two mistakes in the second for a .647 hitting percentage.

The Raiders were led by a trio of attackers with seven kills apiece in Loesner, sophomore David Mrowko, and freshman Danny Quay. Dorkhman chipped in with six spikes. Kumar and junior Jake Connors each recorded four digs while Kumar also had an incredible seven aces. Sophomore Travis Emenaker and rookie Antonio Rocchio shared team-high honors with nine assists.

NJIT 3, Rutgers-Newark 0 (25-13, 25-21, 25-13)
The second match of the day for the Scarlet Raiders did not go as smoothly as the first. Facing the DI Highlanders, the hosts battled through five lead changes and five ties in the early going. R-N held slim 2-1 and 3-2 edges but the lead would never get larger than that.

The last deadlock of the opening set came at 5-5 before NJIT reeled off five straight points to earn some breathing room.

The closest the Raiders would get from there was 11-7 on a Kumar spike as the visitors closed the game on a 14-6 spurt to take the first set 25-13.

The second stanza was even more competitive, featuring a whopping 11 ties and lead changes as neither team could gain control.

The hosts last lead came on a kill from senior Brendon Frank that made it 9-8 while the last tie would be at 11-11.

NJIT scored the next four points but still could not pull away from the Raiders.

R-N remained within three or four points for the remainder of the stanza, closing its deficit to three on seven separate occasions, but could not get any closer as the Highlanders took the game 25-21.

In the third set, NJIT came out strong and opened up an 8-2 advantage.

The Scarlet Raiders made it a five-point contest on two instances and kept the contest within six until 17-11 when sophomore Nicholas Arce-Cox hit a winner.

Unfortunately, the visitors went on another 5-0 surge from there and closed the game, and match, on an 8-2 run to take the set 25-13 and finish off the sweep.