Magical Season Comes To End For Rutgers-Newark

Magical Season Comes To End For Rutgers-Newark

A magical 2016 season has come to an end for the Rutgers University-Newark men's volleyball team. The fourth-seeded Scarlet Raiders were defeated by a score of 3-1 Friday afternoon against fifth-seeded Stevens Institute of Technology in the NCAA Division III Men's Volleyball Championship quarterfinals.
 
The Scarlet Raiders – ranked fifth nationally – finish their season with a record of 24-4. Stevens improves to 27-6 and will face top-seeded and nationally-ranked No. 1 SUNY New Paltz in the national semifinals.
 
Rutgers-Newark was led by junior All-American Jack Fredricks who put down 12 kills (.357) and had five digs. Sophomore Corey Pieper had 13 kills (.276) and three digs, and junior middle Nick Kuti had seven kills (.267), two block solos and a block assist. Senior opposite Travis Mintzer tallied nine kills (.238) and three digs, and senior middle Cody Chidsey had seven kills and three digs.
 
Senior setter Kevin McCandless had 41 assists, seven digs and a block solo, and senior libero Quocmy Nguyen notched eight digs and two assists.
 
Rutgers-Newark won the third set, 25-22, and Stevens won sets one, two and four by scores of 25-18, 25-23 and 25-14.
 
The Scarlet Raiders finished with a hitting percentage of .254, totaling 50 kills, 45 assists, 29 digs, five block solos and four blocks assists. The Ducks hit .377 overall and were led by Tim Ferriter (20 kills, .545), Chris Vaughan (15 kills, .375) and Gabe Shankweiler (10 kills, five digs).
 
Stevens 25, Rutgers-Newark 18 – Set 1
Stevens doubled up the Raiders early (4-2), and after Newark fought within one on several occasions behind Kuti and Chidsey, Stevens went on a 4-0 run to take a 12-7 lead.
 
Rutgers-Newark chipped away, getting within three points at 13-10, but Stevens went on another 4-0 rally to take a 17-10 lead and forced the Scarlet Raiders to use their second timeout.
 
R-N battled, getting within five points (20-15) after a kill from Mintzer, and then trimmed the SIT edge to four following an attacking error.
 
Four would be as close as the Scarlet Raiders could get as the Ducks closed the opening set on a 4-1 run to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
Chidsey, Fredricks and Kuti each had three kills to lead Rutgers-Newark, but the Scarlet Raiders had six service errors to aid Stevens in the set.
 
Stevens 25, Rutgers-Newark 23 – Set 2
After some back-and-forth to start the second, Stevens was able to open a 10-6 lead behind Ferriter, and after the Scarlet Raiders fought within two, the lead moved to five (13-8) following a Duck ace.
 
Senior setter Kevin McCandless found Chidsey for a kill to slow the momentum, and a pair of kills from Kuti helped the Scarlet Raiders trim the lead to one and force Stevens Head Coach Patrick Dorywalski to call timeout for the first time in the match.
 
A monster kill from Fredricks and a Kuti-Pieper denial tied the set at 16, but Stevens came back with two of its own to go back up a pair. An R-N attacking error and Stevens block made it 21-17 in favor of the Ducks, and Stevens was able to take a 24-20 lead late.
 
Rutgers-Newark fought back and got within one late (24-23), but a kill from Vaughan put Stevens up 2-0.
 
Rutgers-Newark 25, Stevens 22 – Set 3
R-N doubled up the Ducks early at 4-2 and 6-3 behind Pieper, but Stevens came back with a 4-0 run to take a 12-10 lead. Chidsey put down back-to-back kills to knot things up (12-12), and after 30 points the two teams were tied 15 and 15.
 
A Ferriter block gave Stevens its first two-point lead since 12-10, but a Kuti kill and Mintzer-Chidsey block pulled Newark even. A Duck attacking error gave the Raiders their first lead since 9-8, and a monster ace from senior Christopher Kopacz made it 20-18 Rutgers.
 
Fredricks elevated for a thunderous kill to up the Scarlet Raider advantage to three (22-19), with Fredricks and McCandless kills giving R-N set point at 24-21. Senior libero Quocmy Nguyen set Fredricks for the set-clincher, making it a 2-1 match.
 
Stevens 25, Rutgers-Newark 14
It was Stevens doubling up R-N early in the fourth set, taking a 6-3 lead and eventually extending to 12-6. Newark put together a mini 2-0 rally to get within four points at 15-11, but Stevens scored 4-of-5 to take a 19-12 lead, forcing the Scarlet Raiders to use their final timeout.
 
SIT came out of the TO by scoring five-straight times to open a 24-12 margin, with the Ducks closing out the set 25-14 to advance to the NCAA semis for a second-straight year.
 
The appearance in the 'Elite 8' of the NCAA Tournament is the second in as many years for Rutgers-Newark which is a remarkable accomplishment. Six Scarlet Raiders donned the Rutgers-Newark uniform for the final time as well in Nick Collins, Chidsey, Kopacz, McCandless, Mintzer and Nguyen.

STORY COURTESY OF RUTGERS UNIVERSITY-NEWARK SPORTS INFORMATION OFFICE