The Rutgers University-Newark men's volleyball team won an exceptional five-set-thriller over nationally-ranked No. 11 New York University Thursday night in The Golden Dome.
Prior to the match, Rutgers-Newark honored five seniors playing for the final time in front of their home fans during the regular season in Corey Pieper, Justin Sandy, Ricky Crumlish, Dom Gutowski and Jalen Sorrell, and all five played a big role in the thrilling win.
Thursday's set scores were 25-23, 21-25, 25-20, 21-25 and 15-11, and Rutgers-Newark ends its regular season with a record of 18-8 - a six win improvement from 2017. The Scarlet Raiders will return to action Tuesday when they host Ramapo College in the opening round of the CVC Tournament at 7 p.m. NYU drops to 15-8.
After NYU was able to force a fifth set, Rutgers-Newark took a 6-4 lead after 10 points in the fifth, getting a huge solo block from Crumlish. The lead moved to 8-5 at the switch, and a Sorrell kill helped the Scarlet Raiders to a 12-8 lead after 20 points. NYU would trim the lead to two, but the Scarlet Raiders would not be denied their second win against a nationally-ranked team in its last three home matches. An NYU service error put the Scarlet Raiders on the brink of match point, a Crumlish spike gave Newark match point at 14-11 and a Sandy ace sealed the deal.
Sandy put down a team-high 14 kills, adding seven digs in a marvelous performance down the stretch, and Pieper had a double-double with 13 kills, 22 assists and six digs. Crumlish had 10 kills, seven digs and four blocks, while Gutowski notched five rejections and three winners. Freshman Kyle Loesner had seven kills, junior Aranan Romua dished out 25 assists with six digs and sophomore libero Jake Connors tallied seven digs.
NYU was led by outside Alex Li who had 30 kills (.396), seven digs and an ace.
Rutgers-Newark totaled 66 points on 54 kills, nine blocks and three aces, while NYU had 77 points on 63 winners, 10 blocks and four aces. Newark hit .207 overall, while the Violets hit .255.
Rutgers-Newark 25, NYU 23
It was all Rutgers-Newark to start, scoring nine of the first 13 points to force an early Violet timeout. Out of the break, NYU came back, tying the score at 11, but a kill from Crumlish and a Crumlish-Gutowski block slowed the momentum. The Violets rallied to tie things at 15, but a quick 3-0 spurt by Rutgers-Newark forced another NYU timeout. The two teams went point-for-point into the 20's, with a Crumlish winner bringing up set point and a Pieper hammer locking up the 1-0 lead.
NYU 25, Rutgers-Newark 21
The Violets scored 7-of-10 to start the second, but Rutgers-Newark roared back with a 6-1 run to overtake the lead at 9-8. Li helped NYU to regain the lead with a flurry and another guest rally pushed their advantage to five at 15-10. A Sorrell-Loesner block pulled Rutgers-Newark within four (20-16), but the Violets did what they needed down the stretch to tie the match 1-1.
Rutgers-Newark 25, NYU 20
Newark was able to regain the lead in the third. With the score tied 6-6, a 3-0 rally capped by a Crumlish spike gave R-N the edge, and an NYU error allowed the Raiders to open a 16-10 margin. Rutgers-Newark continued to keep a comfortable advantage, and a solo block from Gutowski ignited the crowd, making the score 21-16 hosts. From that point, the Scarlet Raiders rolled, closing out the set with back-to-back spikes from Sandy.
NYU 25, Rutgers-Newark 21
It was NYU that came out strong in the fourth, opening an early 9-5 lead, but the Scarlet Raiders quickly came back, pulling within one point after an exceptional save and kill from Sandy (11-10). A big-time kill from Loesner pulled Rutgers-Newark even at 15 and a Pieper winner gave the hosts a 20-18 lead, but NYU came back with four-straight to go back on top 22-20. NYU then closed things out at 25-21, forcing the fifth and final frame.
STORY COURTESY OF RUTGERS-NEWARK SPORTS INFORMATION