LANCASTER, Pa. | No. 5 Rutgers University-Newark men's volleyball team suffered their first loss of the season at the hands of No. 12 Lancaster Bible College, 3-1 (25-19, 22-25, 20-25, 23, 25).
No. 5 Rutgers University-Newark (16-1) found themselves on the wrong side of a decision for the first time this season after winning the opening set by the largest margin by either team this evening. The Scarlet Raiders had three members with 10+ kills in the match with
Andrew Zaleck leading the way with 13.
Daniel Quay and
Arvind Kumar each tallied 10 while
Justin Tuohy picked up 43 assists.
Jake Connors returned to the top of the table with 12 digs and at the net Quay paced the team with six blocks.
No. 12 Lancaster Bible College (17-3) was led by Nate Miller's match-high 25 kills. Reuben Kemrer paced the squad with 45 assists while Jacob Faust secured six blocks. As a team, the Chargers hit .205 and committed 28 errors as a squad.
The Scarlet Raiders came out with a strong performance against the Chargers in the opening set, winning 25-19. A pair of attacking errors by the Chargers gave Rutgers-Newark a 16-11 lead midway through the set.
Nicholas Arce-Cox used that to further increase his team's lead with a kill after Tuohy set him up. Lancaster Bible College made a push towards the end with a 4-0 run, however, the Scarlet Raiders were able to shut the door and take a 1-0 lead in the match.
Lancaster Bible rebounded in the second set and took a 12-8 lead early on. Errors once again plagued the Chargers which allowed the Scarlet Raiders to cut the lead down to one. Quay tied the set up at 19 and caused the Chargers to call a timeout to regroup. Down one, 23-22, Rutgers-Newark committed an attacking error after Kole Horst picked up a kill to level the match at one.
The third set saw the Chargers in the lead for a majority before the Scarlet Raiders came storming back to level it at 19 once again. However, this time, the Chargers closed out the set with a 6-1 run to put the Scarlet Raiders in a position they haven't been all season, down 2-1.
In the fourth set, the Scarlet Raiders held a slim 11-8 lead before the Chargers exploded on a 6-0 run which propelled them into the lead. Once in the lead, the Chargers held off the Scarlet Raiders for the remainder of the set to take down take the match.
Up next for the Scarlet Raiders will be a CVC match against Neumann University on Tuesday, March 10 at 7:00 pm.
