The fifth-ranked Rutgers University-Newark men's volleyball team improved to an excellent 21-2 with a 3-1 victory over 13th-ranked New York University Tuesday night in The Golden Dome Arena in front of a big Senior Night crowd.
Prior to the match, Rutgers-Newark honored the six members of its senior class in Cody Chidsey, Nick Collins, Christopher Kopacz, Kevin McCandless, Travis Mintzer and Quocmy Nguyen.
NYU – who moved up two spots in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) poll just before the match started – drops to 12-12 overall.
The Scarlet Raiders have two matches on their regular-season schedule left, visiting Continental Volleyball Conference (CVC) foes Juniata College and Thiel College on Friday and Saturday with an outside shot at hosting the CVC Tournament on April 8 and 9. R-N has already clinched a spot in the postseason tournament and is currently second in the standings behind Stevenson University. The No. 1 seed and hosting rites go to the regular-season conference champ.
Rutgers-Newark 25, NYU 22
After splitting the first 24 points of the opening set, the Scarlet Raiders scored 6-of-7 to open an 18-13 lead over the Violets, getting three kills from junior middle Nick Kuti in the rally.
NYU was able to get within two on several occasions, but a kill from Mintzer and a late NYU service error helped the Scarlet Raiders to a 1-0 lead in the match. R-N swung .379 in the opening set, tallying 16 kills and holding NYU to 12.
NYU 25, Rutgers-Newark 16
NYU took an early lead in the second, but back-to-back kills from junior outside Jack Fredricks tied the set at eight. NYU ran off three-straight tallies to go back up three (11-8), and after the Scarlet Raiders got within one, the Violets extended the lead to four (15-11) and never led by less than three the rest of the set.
NYU hit an excellent .522 in the second, holding R-N to .259.
Rutgers-Newark 25, NYU 18
The Violets jumped on top 6-3 early, but Newark came back to tie at nine and forced an NYU timeout. Out of the break, the two sides went point-for-point before a 4-0 run for the hosts turned a 14-13 deficit into a 17-14 lead.
Two service errors and an attacking error assisted the Scarlet Raiders in taking a 20-16 lead, with a Mintzer kill pushing the lead to five. A sophomore Corey Pieper ace gave R-N 23, a McCandless kill made it set point and another Pieper ace made it a 2-1 match in favor of the hosts.
The Scarlet Raiders hit a lofty .500 in the third, coming on strong at the end to enter the fourth with strong momentum.
Rutgers-Newark 25, NYU 20
Rutgers-Newark outscored the hosts 3-1 to start, but NYU responded with a 3-0 run to take its first lead of the set at 4-3. Two blocks in a 3-0 rally helped R-N to an 8-6 edge, and a Violet net violation made it 9-6.
NYU and the Raiders traded points, with Newark getting a couple gorgeous kills from Chidsey thanks to equally impressive sets from McCandless in the middle parts of the fourth.
Three Mintzer monsters sandwiched around a Mintzer-Kuti block gave the Scarlet Raiders a 20-14 advantage, essentially slamming the door on the Violets and giving Rutgers-Newark its 21st win in 23 matches this season.
Rutgers-Newark finished the match with 66 points, 53 kills, four aces, nine blocks, 51 assists and 32 digs, hitting .343 overall and holding NYU to an attacking percentage of .277.
Fredricks tallied a match-high 18 kills on a highly efficient .552 hitting percentage and he added four digs to his line. Mintzer had 13 kills (.231), six digs and four blocks, and senior Cody Chidsey – who eclipsed 1,000 career points in the match along with Mintzer – had eight kills (.727), two aces and a block. Sophomore outside Corey Pieper had seven kills, four digs, two aces and four blocks, and Kuti had six kills and a match-high six blocks. McCandless finished with 43 assists, a block and nine digs, and Nguyen had five digs and six assists.
Rutgers-Newark has won its last four matches with two coming against nationally-ranked opponents (No. 7 Stevenson, No. 13 NYU), and the Scarlet Raiders are now 5-1 against teams in the top-15.
STORY COURTESY OF RUTGERS UNIVERSITY-NEWARK SPORTS INFORMATION