Bronx, NY | The sixth ranked Rutgers University-Newark men's volleyball program extended their winning streak to 15 Saturday afternoon with a pair of wins after sweeping Cairn University in the opening match, 3-0 (25-15, 25-17, 25-14), and doing the same to Lehman College, 3-0 (25-14, 25-10, 25-15) in the closing match. The Scarlet Raiders improved to 15-0 on the year, while Cairn dropped to 7-9 and Lehman fell to 5-15.
Match 1: Rutgers-Newark 3, Cairn University 0
Elan Dorkhman led the attack for the Scarlet Raiders with nine kills, while Arvind Kumar and Kyle Loesner finished with seven and five, respectively. Travis Emenaker paced the squad with 26 assists and Loesner added four service aces to his stat-sheet.
Ben Norton led the charge for Cairn University with four kills with teammate Scott Bassill dishing out 11 assists. Dave Cassel was able to provide the offense with two service aces by the game's conclusion.
The Highlanders of Cairn University held 4-2 lead in the first set taking advantage of a service error by Daniel Quay and an attacking error from Robert Long. From there the Scarlet Raiders went on a 15-to-2 run, taking complete control of the set. Kills by Elan Dorkhman, Robert Long and Eric Hollenbach along with multiple attacking errors made by Cairn aided the run for the Scarlet Raiders. The Highlanders attempted a come-back bringing the score within eight, at 23-15, but the Scarlet raiders shut the door after back to back kill by Dorkhman.
In the second set, the momentum flip-flopped both team's ways and was 11-11 after an Arvind Kumar attacking error. The Scarlet Raiders scored back to back points on an Elan Dorkhman kill and Daniel Quay service ace. Three service errors allowed the Highlanders to creep back into the game when it seemed the Scarlet Raiders were about to pull away. With the score 18-14 in favor of the Scarlet Raiders, the men committed three consecutive attacking errors. Head coach Jack Wilson was forced to take a timeout and calm his team down. The break in the action proved to be beneficial as the men of Newark went on a 7-to-0 run with kills from Arvind Kumar and Kyle Loesner to win the second set.
Cairn University showed a lot of heart-fighting in the third set where they were able to keep it tight. The score was 11-10 Rutgers-Newark after a kill from Ben Norton. The Scarlet Raiders were able to pull away from this point as they would rally and go on an 8-to-3 run. The Highlanders called a timeout with the score now at 19-14. From there the Scarlet Raiders ended any hope that the Highlanders had left. Following the time-out, three attacking errors were made by Cairn along with two service aces from Elan Dorkhman which allowed the Scarlet Raiders to close the game on a 9-to-0 run. The final blow coming from a Travis Emenaker kill and the Scarlet Raiders won the match in three straight sets.
Match 2: Rutgers-Newark 3, Lehman 0
Elan Dorkhman once again was the game leader in kills, this time with 15. He was helped out by Antonio Rocchio's huge performance of 38 assists along with Jake Connors and Travis Emenaker with nine and seven kills, respectively. Connors also dropped in four service aces to lead all players while Rocchio tallied six digs.
Peter Veljokic and Amari Blake provided the offense for the Lightning with four kills each. Mentor Mahmuti was responsible for 11 assists on the afternoon while Marlon Nettles and Blake both blocked three attacks.
Coming off a 3-0 sweep against Cairn University, Lehman College hoped to get the bad taste out of their mouth facing Rutgers-University-Newark.
After kills from Elan Dorkhman, Daniel Quay and Jake Connors the score was quickly 4-1 in the first set and the Lightning were already in trouble their fourth straight set of the day. However, the Lightning held strong and brought the score to 13-7 after an Eric Hollenbach service error. A kill from Elan Dorkhman and three consecutive service aces by Antonio Rocchio brought the score to 17-7 and forced the Lightning to call a timeout. Out of the timeout, the Scarlet Raiders added two more points on kills from Travis Emenaker and Daniel Quay and were on a 6-0 run. The Lightning brought the score to 24-14 but Eric Hollenbach closed out the set with a thunderous kill.
The second set was never close as the Scarlet Raiders dominated from beginning to end. Elan Dorkhman had five kills in the set as the men won 25-10 taking a 2-0 match lead.
A 7-to-0 run at the beginning of the third set sucked the life out of the Lightning and caused them to take a timeout. The run was sparked from kills by Elan Dorkhman, Daniel Quay and Travis Emenaker. The Lightning were able to get a few points on the board after the timeout with kills coming via Amari Blake and Azeez Alimi but the Scarlet Raiders proved to be too tough of a match. The final play of the match ended properly as Elan Dorkhman closed out his best game of the season with a kill and gave the Rutgers University-Newark a 3-0 sweep and their 15th straight victory to start the season.
The men's volleyball team will travel to Glenside, PA to face Arcadia University on March third at 7:00 pm.
