Dallas, PA | The Scarlet Raiders took on the Cougars of Misericordia University tonight in a non-conference bout at the Anderson Center in Dallas, PA. The Scarlet Raiders had their two-match win streak come to a close in a five-set slugfest. The Scarlet Raiders drop to 12-5 on the year while Misericordia improved to 13-10. 

Elan Dorkhman tallied a career-high 22 kills in the loss while also hitting .349. Dorkhman also added six digs and a service ace while both Arvind Kumar and Kyle Loesner tallied 9 kills. Arnan Romua and Travis Emenaker split setting duties and picked up 24 and 23 assists, respectively.  Nicholas Arce-Cox led the team with five blocks, one solo. 

Misericordia 3, Rutgers-Newark 2 (22-25, 25-22, 24-26, 25-23, 11-15)

In the opening set, neither team was able to go on a longer run than three straight points, giving way to a back-and-forth set. After trading blows, the score would settle at 15-15 before the Cougars ripped off a 5-1 run to take a 20-16 lead. The Scarlet Raiders would answer with a 6-2 run led by Dorkhman's two kills to knot the set up once again. 

A pair of attacking errors by Rutgers-Newark would inevitably hand Misericordia the matches first win, 25-22.

The second set was a mirror image of the opening set, however, the Scarlet Raiders found themselves on the winning side this time. After trailing 2-1 early, the Scarlet Raiders would take a 3-2 lead and never surrender that lead for the rest of the set. Misericordia did their best to stay in the set, keeping it within reach, however, the Scarlet Raiders were determined to even the match up at one. 

Up 19-18, Loesner rifled off three kills to put the Scarlet Raiders up 23-19 and bring momentum to their side. The Cougars would make one final push but Dorkhman and an attacking error closed that door and even the match. 

Down 16-10 in the third set, the Scarlet Raiders needed a spark to get back into the match and got that from Arce-Cox who started a 7-1 run which allowed Rutgers-Newark to knot the set up at 17. The score would ping-pong before yet another tie at 23. Misericordia scored the final pair lifting them to a 2-1 lead in the match. 

The Cougars looked to have the match all but wrapped up in the fourth set but the Scarlet Raiders had other plans as they stormed back to take the lead before Kumar sealed the win with a kill off of a set from Emenaker.

The fifth would not go the way the Scarlet Raiders had hoped. The Cougars controlled the set and jumped out to a 13-6 lead. Rutgers-Newark was unable to climb out of that hole and was handed just their fifth loss of the season. 

Up next for the Scarlet Raiders is another road match against D'Youville College in Elmira, NY at 8:00 pm on Friday, March 15.