The fifth-ranked Rutgers University-Newark men's volleyball team rolled to a 3-0 win over seventh-ranked Stevenson University in a highly-anticipated Continental Volleyball Conference (CVC) matchup between a pair of top-10 teams Friday night.
After falling behind 4-1 early in the first set, Rutgers-Newark found its groove and never looked back, winning by set scores of 25-18, 25-18 and 25-20. The Scarlet Raiders dominated the match in all aspects, holding Stevenson to a hitting percentage of just .124 while converting at a .380 clip themselves.
Rutgers-Newark improves to 20-2 overall and 8-2 in the CVC, while Stevenson drops to 10-1 in the conference and 22-7 overall. The Scarlet Raiders now boast three wins over top-10 teams, and Newark is 4-1 overall against teams in the AVCA Top-15.
The Scarlet Raiders will return to action on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. when they host New York University in the final regular-season home match inside The Golden Dome Arena. R-N will honor its seniors with a ceremony beginning at approximately 6:50 p.m.
Senior setter Kevin McCandless led the Raiders with 37 assists, three blocks and three kills (.600), and senior libero Quocmy Nguyen was strong as well, tallying 12 digs. Five players had seven or more kills as senior Cody Chidsey tallied a match-high 10 along with a ridiculous .818 hitting percentage, adding four blocks and three digs to his line. Sophomore outside Corey Pieper had nine kills, two digs and three blocks, while senior opposite Travis Mintzer had eight kills, five digs, three assists and two rejections. Junior middle Nick Kuti hit .700 on his way to seven kills, pocketing four blocks and two digs, while junior outside Jack Fredricks had seven kills and eight digs.
Newark totaled 56 points, 44 kills, two aces, 10 blocks, 43 assists and 33 digs, holding Stevenson to 38 points, 33 kills, no aces, five blocks, 33 assists and 19 digs.
Rutgers-Newark 25, Stevenson 18
After a sluggish start, the Scarlet Raiders turned a 4-1 deficit into an 8-7 lead, pushing the lead to four (16-12) moments later with some excellent blocking from Mintzer, Pieper and Chidsey, several Stevenson missteps and kills from both Mintzer and Pieper.
Two kills in a three-point stretch for Fredricks gave the Scarlet Raiders a 20-15 lead, and save for three service errors, Newark rolled to the 25-18 set victory. Pieper ended it with a solo block and Chidsey mixed in several kills late as R-N held the guests to a -.097 hitting percentage in the first.
Rutgers-Newark 25, Stevenson 18
The second set went point-for-point in the early stages as the two sides were tied at 10 after 20 tallies, but the Scarlet Raiders ripped off three-straight markers capped by a pretty kill from senior setter Kevin McCandless to force a Mustang timeout.
A Pieper kill pushed the lead to a set-high four, and after Stevenson cut the lead to two, Newark answered with four of the next five points to go up five (20-15). Back-to-back monsters from Chidsey extended the Raider margin to 23-17, and a Pieper kill and Mustang error put the hosts up 2-0.
Rutgers-Newark hit a lofty .462 in the second, again holding a talented attack down on the defensive side of things, limiting the Mustangs to a .172 hitting percentage and just 19 kills through two sets.
Rutgers-Newark 25, Stevenson 20
Stevenson took an early lead in the third, but the Raiders responded with an early 4-0 run punctuated by a remarkable rally that ended with a crowd-igniting kill from Fredricks.
Stevenson clawed back, getting within one on several occasions before tying the set at 15 with a kill from freshman Jason Gardner. A service error and Kuti-Fredricks block put Newark back up two, and several points later a Pieper kill and Mustang attacking error made it 22-18 Raiders, forcing an SU timeout.
The break could not slow the Scarlet Raiders as they scored 3-of-5 to close out the sweep, improving to 9-1 in The Dome and 3-0 at home against ranked teams.
Rutgers-Newark is still a game back in the CVC standings with two conference matches left (at Thiel, at Juniata) as the Mustangs currently hold the top spot.
STORY COURTESY OF RUTGERS-NEWARK UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION OFFICE