Bracket
NEWARK, N.J. (April 18, 2015) – No. 13 Rutgers-Newark cruised in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division III Men's Volleyball Championship with a 3-0 sweep of Endicott College Saturday night in The Golden Dome.
In its first season as a member of Division III, Rutgers-Newark finds itself in the 'Elite 8' of the national tournament and will travel to Hoboken, N.J. (Stevens Institute of Technology) to take on second-seeded Springfield College on Friday night in the quarterfinals at 5:30 p.m. The seventh-seeded Scarlet Raiders will bring in a record of 22-9 and have won 8-of-9 dating back to March 12 and have defeated eight consecutive Division III foes.
Rutgers-Newark won by set scores of 25-15, 25-18 and 25-20, notching a hitting percentage of .352 for the match.
The Scarlet Raiders were led by sophomore middle
Nick Kuti who tallied a match-high 13 kills and hit .393. Junior middle
Cody Chidsey was also strong, notching 11 kills (.588) and junior opposite
Travis Mintzer finished with 10 kills (.400). Junior setter
Kevin McCandless was excellent, piling up 38 assists and eight digs, and junior libero
Quocmy Nguyen was a difference-maker throughout with 10 digs and three assists. Senior outside
Alex Barnhard had six kills and three digs, with sophomore outside
Jack Fredricks tallying four kills and four digs. Mintzer added nine digs and Kuti five as the Scarlet Raiders thrived on quality all-around performances from up and down the roster. Freshman outside
Ricky Crumlish picked up a team-best two aces in a nice performance off the bench, sparking several key runs for Rutgers with his serve.
The Scarlet Raiders hit .371 in the first set, .361 in the second and .324 in the third, and were never truly threatened.
The hosts doubled up Endicott (4-2) after a Kuti kill and went on top 10-5 shortly thereafter. The Gulls fought to get within three but a 3-0 run behind Crumlish's serve quickly extended the margin to seven at 15-8.
A Barnhard kill made the score 20-10 and the Scarlet Raiders never looked back in taking a 1-0 lead.
Rutgers-Newark again jumped out to a quick lead in the second set, tallying four-straight points on the back of Crumlish's service game, but Endicott came back to tie the score at eight. The Raiders stayed cool, using two errors in a 3-0 run to take an 11-8 lead, and went up 14-10 after a big-time Kuti kill.
Endicott (17-12 overall) hung tough and trimmed the lead to two (16-14), but a 4-1 run by the Raiders made it a 20-15 set score and forced an Endicott timeout. Up 21-17, Rutgers closed on a 4-1 run with kills from Mintzer (two) and Barnhard to take the commanding 2-0 lead.
Despite trailing 2-0, Endicott played tough in the third, but it was not nearly enough to stop the Scarlet Raiders. After 16 points, the set was tied at eight, but a back-breaking 8-0 run from the Raiders – again on the serve of
Ricky Crumlish – essentially sealed the victory. Kuti and Mintzer each had multiple kills and Crumlish worked in one of his two aces.
Endicott was able to chip away and get within one (21-20), but the Raiders closed on a 4-0 spurt to advance. Sophomore outside
Jose Mendez started it, and following a pair of EC errors, Kuti ended it with authority to send the large Golden Dome crowd into celebration.
Junior middle Daniel Toth and junior outside John Osborne led Endicott, recording 10 and eight kills, respectively. The Gulls hit .208 as a team and received 12 digs from libero Kristian Catalan.
The NCAA Tournament contest was the first on the Rutgers-Newark campus. The Scarlet Raiders' men's soccer and men's basketball programs have recently played on the road in NCAA Tournaments, but men's volleyball gets the first-ever Scarlet Raider NCAA victory on Newark soil.
More information on the NCAA quarterfinals will be posted early next week.
