Montclair, NJ (10/17/06) – Freshman outside hitter Jesica Cockerham (Keller, TX/Fossil Ridge) posted 15 kills, five service aces and nine digs as Rutgers-Newark swept Montclair State, 3-0 in New Jersey Athletic Conference volleyball action at Panzer Gymnasium on Tuesday evening. Rutgers-Newark won by the game scores of 30-28, 30-28 and 30-21.

Senior middle hitter Jennifer Snyder (Gibbsboro, NJ/Eastern Regional) had 11 kills for the Scarlet Raiders, who improved to 20-7 overall and finished their conference slate at 6-2. Rutgers-Newark also sewed up the No. 3 seed in the upcoming NJAC Tournament as they defeated Montclair State for the 22nd time in 29 meetings.

Freshman ANNA CHESNAKOVA (East Brunswick, NJ/East Brunswick) had 10 kills and four blocks to lead the Red Hawks, which had its three-match win streak snapped. The Red Hawks fell to 11-17 overall and ended their league schedule at 4-4. Senior HEATHER ACIZ (Secaucus, NJ/Secaucus) finished with nine kills and 10 digs, including the 1,000th of her career as she became the first MSU player to record both 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs in a career. Aciz reached the 1,000-kill mark versus Rowan on October 12.

In the first game, Montclair State jumped out to an 8-1 lead and led for most of the opening game until Julie Pape (Baldwin, NY//Baldwin Senior) tied the match at 20-20 with kill. After the team traded points, Pape added another kill and Cockerham collected consecutive aces to make the score 24-21. The game would be tied three more times, the final one at 28-28 before the Scarlet Raiders took the contest on back-to-back kills from Snyder and Cockerham, respectively.

Rutgers-Newark led the second game 10-9, before running off 11 of the next 12 points to take an 11-point advantage. Cockerham had three kills in the run and Jessica Kleeman (Cherry Hill, NJ/Cherry Hill West) served two aces as the Scarlet Raiders built a 21-10 lead. Montclair would run off the next three points to get within eight, however Cockerham had and Pape each had kills and Rachel Guyt (Hillsdale, NJ/Pascack Valley) served an ace to restore the lead to 24-14. Snyder closed out the game with a kill on game-point.

Game number three was 15-14 in favor or the Scarlet Raiders before Cockerham collected a kill and then served up an ace as Rutgers-Newark went on to build a 21-16 lead. Chesnakova's kill brought the Red Hawks within 22-18, but Katlyn Lewis (Hillsdale, NJ/Pascack Valley) registered a kill and Cockerham followed with another as Rutgers-Newark lengthened the lead to 25-18. Cockerham would get her final kill of the match to make the score 28-20. Pape's kill brought the match to the final point where an attack error ended the match.

Nazly Hasanizadeh (Katy, TX/Hastings) had five kills, 43 assists and seven digs for Rutgers-Newark while Guyt added five kills and six digs. Lewis had nine kills while Kleeman recorded 13 digs.

For Montclair State, freshman setter RAISA SILVA (Newark, NJ/East Side) had 28 assists while SAMANTHA KARPINSKI (Hackensack, NJ/Hackensack) and Kara Burham (Moorestown, NJ/Moorestown) each had four kills.

Montclair State returns to action on Saturday, October 21 as the Red Hawks will host a tri-match at Panzer Gymnasium. MSU will take on Arcadia at 11:00 am and then face Eastern Connecticut at 3:00 pm. Rutgers-Newark is back in action on Friday, October 20 as they take on Franklin and Marshall at Juniata College beginning at 5:00 pm.