Newark, NJ | The sixth-ranked Rutgers University-Newark men's volleyball team won their 13th consecutive game to open up the 2020 season. First-year head coach Jack Wilson has his team firing on all cylinders as he remains undefeated, taking out the Roadrunners of Ramapo Thursday night, 3-0 (25-23, 25-22,25-22) inside The Golden Dome.

No. 6 Rutgers University-Newark (13-0) held off the Roadrunners with the eye-popping play of freshman sensation Andrew Zalek. His 18 kills led the way for the Scarlet Raiders alongside teammate Arvind Kumar's nine kill performance. Justin Tuohy set them up all night long with 33 assists, Daniel Quay added six kills of his own on the night while Eric Hollenbach blocked seven attacks. Robert long helped out racking up seven digs.

Ramapo College (8-6) fought a hard battle all the way through but could not close-out a set to earn a point on the night. Eric Van Thuyne and Conor Charlow led the team with eight kills each. Josh Titus had 23 assists while teammates Connor Charlow and Jason van der Wilt blocked four and three attacks, respectively. Tyler Plitt patrolled the backline with seven digs.

The Scarlet Raiders took a commanding 5-1 lead in the opening set. The Roadrunners did not allow them to pull away as they continued to fight back. It was a neck and neck battle that led to Ramapo tying the game up at 17 causing head coach Jack Wilson to burn a timeout. Out of the timeout, Ramapo took the lead after a Justin Tuohy attack error. Neither team could go on a run and the first set winded up being tied at 23 when Arvind Kumar rained down a hammering kill. This was followed by an attack error that gave the Scarlet Raiders the first point.

The second set was a seesaw battle all the way through. With both teams committing service errors just when you thought a run was brewing the set became deadlocked 20-20. Finally, the Scarlet Raiders put a 4-0 run together with a kill from both Arvind Kumar and Justin Tuohy and two attacking errors. The Roadrunners cut into the lead after service and attacking errors but Andrew Zalek shut the door with a set-ending kill grabbing his team a 2-0 lead.

The third and final set looked to be identical to the second set until the Scarlet Raiders went on a 3-0 run making the score 17-12. Down by five in what could be their final set, head coach Mike Hrehovcik called timeout. After back to back attacking errors by the Scarlet Raiders the score was now cut to 20-18. The Scarlet Raiders extending the lead to 22-18 after an Arvind Kumar kill and Justin Tuohy service ace. The score was 24-22 when Andrew Zalek ended things with his 18 kill of the match.

The Scarlet Raiders will be in action in the Bronx, 10:00 AM Saturday morning as they take on Cairn University.