The Rutgers University-Newark men's volleyball team advanced to the Continental Volleyball Conference (CVC) Tournament semifinals with a 3-1 win over Ramapo College Tuesday night in The Golden Dome. The set scores were 27-25, 19-25, 25-18, 26-24.
The Scarlet Raiders (19-8) will take on fifth-ranked Marymount University in the league semifinals Friday night at 8:30 p.m. The match will take place at Harwood Arena on the campus of Kean University.
The win marked the 100th of Head Coach Pedro Trevino's career at Rutgers-Newark. Trevino is now in his seventh season with the team and has 19 or more wins in three of his last four seasons.
"We knew tonight was going to be a tough one, but I am proud of the guys for pulling it out," said Trevino. "We are going to enjoy it for the next few hours, but we have a lot of work to do in order to get ready for a very good Marymount team."
Three Scarlet Raiders eclipsed double figures in kills in seniors Corey Pieper (14), Ricky Crumlish (14) and Justin Sandy, while senior Dom Gutowski recorded a career-high nine blocks. Sophomore Travis Emenaker (26) and freshman Tuan Nguyen combined for 46 assists, and sophomore libero Jake Connors lifted a team-high 11 digs.
Rutgers-Newark 27, Ramapo 25
The early stages of the match saw mini-runs for both sides and after 22 points the two teams were tied 11-all. Moments later, Ramapo opened a 16-13 lead, but a block from Pieper and kill from Gutowski knotted things at 18 and back-to-back Pieper kills would eventually give Rutgers-Newark a 20-19 lead.
Ramapo was able to fight off a pair of set points, but a big-time block from Pieper and Gutowski gave Rutgers-Newark a 1-0 lead after a very tight first set.
Ramapo 25, Rutgers-Newark 19
Back-to-back spikes from Sandy staked the Scarlet Raiders to a 7-4 lead, but the Roadrunners were able to chip away, tying things at 12, and using a 4-0 run to open an 18-14 lead and force a Newark timeout. After the break, Ramapo pushed its lead to seven at 23-16, eventually tying things up via the 25-19 set-two tally.
Rutgers-Newark 25, Ramapo 18
Two early blocks helped Rutgers-Newark to an early 3-0 lead and after eight points, the lead was four (6-2). Sandy came through with a solo-block to push the lead to five (12-7), and winners from Crumlish and Pieper extended the margin to seven at 17-10.
From there, Rutgers-Newark would roll, locking down a 2-1 lead with a 25-18 triumph in the third.
Rutgers-Newark 26, Ramapo 24
Ramapo doubled up Rutgers-Newark early in the fourth (6-3), pushing the lead to four after an R-N attacking error (10-6). The Scarlet Raiders battled within one on two occasions (10-9, 16-15), and eventually tied the score at 16 after a thunderous kill from Crumlish.
The teams went point-for-point and were tied at 20 after 40 scores, and after Ramapo went up two (22-20), an ace from Pieper tied things back up (22-22). A Crumlish block gave Rutgers-Newark its first set point of the fourth, and after Ramapo fought off the first one, the Roadrunners could not fight off the second as Gutowski and freshman Travis Emenaker combined on a block to punch R-N's ticket to the CVC semifinals.
Rutgers-Newark hit .307 in the match, while Ramapo converted at a .286 clip. The Raiders totaled 69 points on 54 kills, 13 blocks and two aces, and the Roadrunners notched 62 tallies on 55 winners, five aces, and two blocks. Sandy hit .391 in getting his 13 kills, adding six digs an two aces, while Pieper hit .294 and added five blocks and seven digs. Gutowski added five kills (.300) to his nine denials.
Fans can expect a preview of the CVC semifinal versus No. 5 Marymount Thursday afternoon at www.rutgersnewarkathletics.com.
STORY COURTESY OF RUTGERS UNIVERSITY-NEWARK SPORTS INFORMATION