Box Score

CAMDEN, New Jersey (Sept. 21, 2017) – The Rutgers University-Camden women's volleyball team came out with a strong desire to climb back into the top half of the New Jersey Athletic Conference standings here tonight.
 
The Scarlet Raptors did exactly so, defeating the Pioneers from William Paterson by final scores of 25-23, 25-15, and 25-22. The win puts them at 4^th in the current NJAC standings.
 
The Scarlet Raptors improve to 2-1 in New Jersey Athletic Conference play and 5-8 on the season, while William Paterson drops to 0-3 in the NJAC and 5-5 overall.
 
The opening set saw the Pioneers jump out to early leads as the Scarlet Raptors stayed in sight of tying the set. At a 17-11 William Paterson lead, Rutgers-Camden strung together 8 straight points to gain the lead for the first time in the set. That 8 point swing was led by senior Cortnee Wilkerson (Los Angeles, CA, West Adams Prep), as she contributed 3 aces and 1 kill. Sophomore Jamie Mulligan (New Gretna, NJ, Pinelands Regional) also went back-to-back in kills during that period. Junior Myiah Gatling (Woolwich Township, NJ, Kingsway Regional) provided crucial kills late in the set, and sophomore Jordan Erskine (Barnegat, NJ, Barnegat) put the final touch past the Pioneer defense to close out the first set at 25-23.
 
Sophomore Caitlynn Marcano (Williamstown, NJ, Williamstown) and freshman Alyson Lowe (Havertown, PA, Haverford) provided crucial assists late in the first set to ensure kills for their teammates. Lowe finished with a team-high 19 assists on the night, and Marcano was right behind with 18.
 
Rutgers-Camden's power throughout the second set proved no match for William Paterson's defense, as the Scarlet Raptors cruised to a 25-15 win. Rutgers-Camden never trailed during the set, as kills from Wilkerson, Erskine and Gatling were abundant.
 
However, the Pioneers would not go down without a resilient fight. Rutgers-Camden trailed the entire third set, as a 22-19 William Paterson lead made a fourth set seem impending. As Marcano steered the Scarlet Raptors with her dangerous serve, Wilkerson and sophomore Morgan Mulligan (New Gretna, NJ, Pinelands Regional) led an outstanding comeback with 6 straight points to secure the third set win by a score of 25-22, locking down the 3-0 sweep.
 
Wilkerson led in kills for the Scarlet Raptors, as Erskine and Gatling both finished with 8 each. M. Mulligan and Marcano provided 2 aces apiece. Gatling led in blocks on the night with 4.
 
Rutgers-Camden led in all but one category on the night, including kills (46-28), aces (11-2), assists and (42-25). William Paterson collected 7 blocks to the Scarlet Raptors' 4. Both teams finished with 57 digs on the night. Sophomore Natalie DiGiacomo (Williamstown, NJ, Williamstown) provided crucial defensive play, as she led Rutgers-Camden with 24 digs against the Pioneers' attack.
 
With Wilkerson's 9 digs tonight, she moves into 9^th place on the all-time digs list with 491.
 
The Scarlet Raptors return to non-conference action this weekend, as they host Wesley College and Wilkes University for a tri-match on Saturday, September 23^rd during Rutgers-Camden's Homecoming weekend. The action starts at 11am, as the Scarlet Raptors take on Wesley, before Wilkes and Wesley faceoff at 1pm. The final match sees Rutgers-Camden face Wilkes at 3pm.