Union, NJ | The Scarlet Raiders stepped on the court against No. 3 Kean University for the first-ever New Jersey Athletic Conference Championship. Rutgers-Newark got the jump on Kean University to start the match but the Cougars won the three straight to secure the first NJAC title in history, 3-1. 

Arvind Kumar led the team with 11 kills while hitting .500. Elan Dorkhman followed close behind with eight kills and a pair of solo blocks. Brendon Frank picked up seven kills and tallied three total blocks on the night. 

Kean 3, Rutgers-Newark 1 (25-22, 20-25, 16-25, 23-25)

The Scarlet Raiders (14-8) came out strong against the third-ranked team in the nation, Kean University (20-4), and took the opening set 25-22. Both teams were neck-and-neck the entire set as neither team was able to take a lead larger than two until the Scarlet Raiders took a 23-20 lead late. 

Rutgers-Newark played clean volleyball in the opening stanza, tallying just three errors to eight for the Cougars. The Scarlet Raiders also hit well, hitting .292 which dwarfed Kean's .050. 

With the opening set knotted at 15, Danny Quay received a pass from Arnan Romua and found a gap in Kean's defense to secure the kill to give Rutgers-Newark the lead for good. An attacking error by the Cougars gave the Scarlet Raiders their largest lead of the game, which propelled them to a 1-0 lead in the match.

The Cougars stormed back in the second set, earning a 25-20 win to even the match up at one. Kean had a large six-point lead midway through the match but a pair of blocks by Quay cut into Kean's lead to bring Rutgers-Newark within two. Kean would finish the second set on a 7-2 run to even the match.

With Kean settled into the match they carried the momentum from the second set over into the third set as they toppled Rutgers-Newark 25-16. The Cougars scored five points before the Scarlet Raiders were able to put a tally mark in their own column. Arvind Kumar tallied two kills to boost the Scarlet Raiders' total to six which trimmed the lead down to four. From there the Cougars powered their way to a 10-point win.

The Scarlet Raiders came out strong much as they did in the opening set. Elan Dorkhman and Kumar helped give Rutgers-Newark the early lead with a trio of kills. Rutgers-Newark held the lead for a majority of the set but Kean eventually caught up at 23. A pair of timeouts were called to try and stop Kean from completing the comeback, however, they were unable to stop the third-ranked team in the nation.

Kean would secure the win and their first NJAC Championship.

Up next for the Scarlet Raiders is another ranked opponent in No. 11 Southern Virginia University on Friday, March 29 at 7:00 pm.