Piscataway, N.J. (September 11, 2010) – The Rutgers volleyball team split a pair of Saturday matches with instate rival Princeton and TCU to finish second in the Rutgers Invitational. The Scarlet Knights downed the Tigers in straight sets in their first match before dropping a heartbreaker to the Horned Frogs in five sets.
For the tournament, Rutgers was lead by captains Caitlin Saxton (Encinitas, Calif.) and Stephanie Zielinski (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) who each earned All-Tournament honors.
In its first match of the day, Rutgers used a balanced attack to drop the Princeton Tigers, 3-0.
The first game set the tone for the match with RU and Princeton playing back and forth volleyball for the majority of the set. Princeton took a narrow 22-20 lead and looked to close out the set but after a service error, Rutgers went on a run taking five of the next six points closing out the set on a kill from senior Emma Chrystal (Kalamazoo, Mich.).
Princeton got out to a quick 4-1 lead to start the second but Rutgers responded eventually evening the score 12-12. From there, the back and forth volleyball continued with neither team taking a lead of two until the Scarlet Knights closed out the set, 25-23, on a kill by sophomore Kylie Orr (Kettering, Ohio).
In the third, Princeton jumped out to a 10-4 lead but after a timeout Rutgers responded evening the score at 12. The Tigers made another run and pushed their lead to four at 18-14, but the Scarlet Knights responded and eventually took their first lead of the set at 24-23. Princeton couldn’t overcome the momentum shift and dropped the set and match on the next point on an attacking error. With the victory, RU insured that its matchup with TCU would be for the Rutgers Invitational title.
In the final matchup of the Rutgers Invitational, Rutgers and TCU faced off for the right to be called Rutgers Invitational champion.
After dropping the first set 25-15, Rutgers responded by taking an intense second set, 31-29. Rutgers built momentum early in the second getting out to a quick 3-0 lead. The Horned Frogs responded quickly knotting the match at nine. The Scarlet Knights snatched the momentum back thanks to some strong serving from Zielinski. While Zielinski was on serve, RU scored seven straight points to push its lead to 16-9. TCU refused to surrender, knotting the score at 24 on a kill by Jordan Raines. Both squads fought hard to try to gain the decisive two point advantage but whenever a team gained an edge the other responded until Rutgers closed out the set, 31-29, on a kill by Orr.
TCU didn’t let Rutgers’ momentum from the thrilling second set victory bother them as they jumped on the Scarlet Knights early getting out to a quick 16-6 lead and eventually sealing a decisive 25-16 set victory on an RU service error.
Rutgers took the momentum back in the fourth after getting out to an early 5-2 lead on a Saxton kill. TCU rallied to even the score at 7-7 but RU refused to back down using an 11-5 run to break the set open. Rutgers closed out the set on a thunderous block by Zielinski and Hannah Curtis (Wasilla, Alaska) which sent the College Ave Gym crowd into a frenzy.
The deciding fifth set saw TCU jump out to a 7-4 lead before Rutgers rallied to get within one at 13-12. TCU scored the next point to force match point at 14-12. A Saxton kill got RU within one again but after a TCU timeout the Horned Frogs closed out the match on a kill by tournament MVP Irene Hester.
The loss dropped Rutgers to 6-4 while TCU improved to 6-4. The Scarlet Knights were paced by Saxon who recorded her fourth consecutive double-double (19 kills, 12 digs) and Zielinski who notched her second 20-20 match of the season with 45 assists and 20 digs.
The Scarlet Knights return to action next weekend as they head north to New Hampshire for matchups with New Hampshire, Sacred Heart and Dartmouth at the Holly Young Invitational.
