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CVC Champs! | CVC Final Highlights | CVC Semifinal Highlights
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (April 13, 2015) – The Rutgers-Newark men's volleyball team will host Endicott College in the first round of the 2015 NCAA Division III Men's Volleyball Championship in The Golden Dome Arena Saturday evening at 6:30 p.m.
The nationally-ranked Scarlet Raiders earned the seventh overall seed in the tournament after rolling to the Continental Volleyball Conference (CVC) crown with a pair of 3-0 sweeps against Thiel College and Stevenson University.
With a win, Rutgers-Newark would advance to the quarterfinals on April 24 against second-seeded Springfield College. Springfield and the rest of the tournament's top-six seeds receive a bye into the quarters with eighth-seeded Lasell College battling Baruch College in the other first round match.
Tournament host Stevens Institute of Technology received the No. 1 seed, Springfield was No. 2 and UC Santa Cruz was seeded third. SUNY New Paltz and Kean University are seeds four and five, with Nazareth College checking in at No. 6. The Scarlet Raiders are seven and Lasell is eighth. Endicott and Baruch did not receive an official seeding.
Following the quarterfinals on April 24 in Hoboken, the semifinals are slated to take place on April 25 with the National Championship match scheduled for April 26 at 2 p.m.
Rutgers-Newark men's volleyball is in its first year as a member of NCAA Division III and has been peaking at the right time. After starting the year 0-5, the Scarlet Raiders have won 21 of their last 24 matches and will head into the national tournament with a record of 21-8. R-N earned the rite to host the 2015 CVC Tournament with an 11-1 mark in conference play that included an April 1 win over then-No. 4 Juniata College.
Junior setter
Kevin McCandless was named the 2015 CVC Tournament MVP and was joined on the CVC All-Tournament team by sophomore
Jack Fredricks and junior
Travis Mintzer. Senior
Cody Chidsey, McCandless and junior libero
Quocmy Nguyen all received all-conference honors on Thursday afternoon with Chidsey earning American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) National Player of the Week honors April 7. Rutgers-Newark also cracked the AVCA Division III Coaches Poll for the first time in 2015 last week, earning a national rank of No. 14.
R-N has won its last eight matches dating back to a 3-1 win at Ramapo College on March 12. During that time, the Scarlet Raiders have earned four 3-0 sweeps and three wins by scores of 3-1.
Endicott won the NECC to earn an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament, and the matchup with R-N will be the first in program history. The Gulls have an overall ledger of 17-11 and were a perfect 12-0 in conference play.
General admission to the match is $6 and tickets for students/seniors will be $4. All Rutgers-Newark fans with a valid ID can get into the match free of charge.
Live stats and video will be available for Saturday's match.
