NEWARK, N.J. — Rutgers–Newark battled through a competitive CVC tri-match, falling in a five-set thriller to No. 9 Southern Virginia before bouncing back with a sweep of New Jersey City University.

In the opener against nationally ranked Southern Virginia, the Scarlet Raiders came out strong but dropped a tightly contested first set, 25-23. Rutgers–Newark responded with momentum, taking the next two sets to seize control of the match.

The Knights answered in the fourth set, pulling away for a 25-18 win to force a fifth. With the final set tied at 9-9, Southern Virginia capitalized on back-to-back points and took advantage of a few costly Scarlet Raider errors to secure the victory.

Freshman Harry Takyi led the attack with 13 kills, while Michael Suarez added 10 in the effort.

Rutgers–Newark regrouped in the second match and delivered a strong response, sweeping NJCU, 25-18, 27-25, 25-19.

Takyi once again led the way, finishing with 16 kills on an impressive .448 hitting percentage, while Juan Silva added 11 kills on a .400 clip. Duncan Sturt orchestrated the offense with 43 assists in the three-set victory.

Rutgers–Newark will look to build on the split as they return to conference play on the road, traveling to Marymount for another CVC matchup.

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