Harrisonburg, VA I The Rutgers University-Newark men's volleyball team rallied to take a hard-fought Continental Volleyball Conference (CVC) matchup at Eastern Mennonite University, 3-2 (25-17, 19-25, 19-25, 25-17, 15-11). The Scarlet Raiders improve to 15-9 and conclude their CVC slate at 7-4 while the Royals wrap up their season at 4-17 (4-7 CVC).

Rutgers-Newark was led by Elan Dorkhman who had 11 kills while Arvind Kumar and David Mrowko each contributed nine. Junior Jake Connors led the squad with 12 digs as Dorkhman and Kumar chipped in with seven apiece. Danny Quay was a big presence on the front line with five blocks. Travis Emenaker and Arnan Romua orchestrated the offense with 20 and 16 assists, respectively.

The Raiders complete their regular season on Senior Night this coming Thursday against Lehman College in The Golden Dome at 7 p.m.

The visitors found themselves down 13-12 in the first set but a quick 4-0 surge put them in front for good in the stanza. Dorkhman started things off will a kill before Brendon Frank delivered an ace and Mrowko added a block to create a 16-13 edge.

Leading 19-16, R-N would extend its advantage and close out the game on a 6-1 surge that featured a pair of kills from Kumar and was capped by a Kumar ace.

The Scarlet Raiders unfortunately dug themselves a hole after that, dropping the second and third sets by identical 25-19 scores.

Still, Rutgers-Newark would rally in the fourth as the visitors jumped out to a 9-3 lead behind a pair of Mrowko winners in addition to a block with Dorkhman.

The Royals would cut their deficit down to 14-12 at one point but that was as close as they would get. A quick 4-1 spurt by the Raiders as a Quay spike capped the run to make it 18-13. Although a late rally had Eastern Mennonite within 22-17, Newark closed out the game with the last three points to take the set 25-17 and even the match at 2-2.

In the fifth and final stanza the squads battled back-and-fourth with five ties and five lead changes. The hosts opened up an early 5-2 edge, but the Raiders struck back with a 7-3 run to take a slim 9-8 lead. Quay featured heavily in the rally with a kill, block, and ace.

The game remained within one as the visitors maintained a tight 12-11 advantage. Still, Rutgers-Newark closed out the match in style with the last three points beginning with a Dorkhman winner and ending on a block by Quay and Frank to take the stanza 15-11 and the match 3-2.