NEWARK, N.J. (March 9, 2019) – The Rutgers University-Newark men's volleyball team defeated visiting Messiah College in non-conference action today, 3-1 (25-12, 25-14, 14-25, 25-22). The Scarlet Raiders improve to 12-4 while the Falcons drop to 10-7.

Rutgers-Newark was led by freshman Arvind Kumar who racked up 14 kills and eight digs. 10 different Raiders recorded at least one kill with classmates Danny Quay and Elan Dorkhman compiling eight and seven winners, respectively. Junior Jake Connors had a squad-best 11 digs. Sophomore Travis Emenaker and senior Arnan Romua split the setting duties with 25 and 19 assists, respectively.

R-N resumes play on Tuesday when they head to Misericordia for an 8 p.m. match.

In the first set, the Scarlet Raiders jumped out in front early and quickly built a commanding 17-7 advantage. Quay featured heavily in that surge with four winners while Kumar added two spikes and two aces.
The hosts did not let up, cruising to a 25-12 victory as sophomore Nicholas Arce-Cox helped close out the game with his third kill of the opening stanza.

The second game followed a similar pattern with Rutgers-Newark turning a 10-9 edge into a 19-11 lead. Kumar had three consecutive aces during that stretch while senior Brendon Frank capped the run with a kill.

Messiah would get no closer than seven for the remainder of the set as Newark picked up the 25-14 win with three more Kumar winners helping to finish off the set.

With a new lineup in for the third set, the Raiders struggled to get on the same page and fell behind after an early back-and-forth that featured two ties and two lead changes. The Falcons turned a 6-5 lead into a 13-8 advantage that forced a R-N timeout and never looked back, earning a 25-14 win to cut their deficit in half.

Still, the Scarlet Raiders got back on the front foot in the fourth set, claiming a quick 4-1 lead and never trailed in the stanza. While Messiah was able to knot the game at 7-7, the home side reeled off four straight points that included winners from Arce-Cox and Frank to earn an 11-7 edge.

The Falcons did not go down without a fight, however, battling back from a 17-11 deficit to win seven consecutive points.

Rutgers-Newark did not falter and won five of the next six, featuring winners from Dorhman and Kumar as well as a big block by Arce-Cox and sophomore Kyle Loesner to reclaim a 22-19 lead.

Even though Messiah would draw within one twice more, the Scarlet Raiders held on with Kumar capping the match on a pair of spikes that closed out the 25-22 win for the set and 3-1 victory overall.