HUNTSVILLE, Texas (August 27, 2011) – Rutgers University volleyball swept Texas-Pan American, 3-0, on Saturday afternoon at Johnson Coliseum to close out the Sam Houston State Invitational. It was the first-ever meeting between the two programs.
“I am proud of the team for the way they have handled injuries and adversity to earn this win,” said head coach CJ Werneke. “They responded well to whatever lineup we threw at them.”
The Scarlet Knights (1-3) won the match with a balanced attack as the team hit at a season-best .298 clip. Junior Alex Jones (Chesapeake, Va.) led RU with 10 kills, bringing her total to a team-best 49 (3.27 k/s) for the weekend.
“Alex is coming into her own,” said Werneke. “We have high expectations for her and she is meeting them and producing at a high level. I couldn’t be more excited for her and what she is bringing to the program right now.”
Showing no fatigue from a five-set match earlier in the day, RU jumped on the Broncs (1-3) right from the start with a convincing 25-10 first set win. The team hit at an impressive .379 mark to go with three blocks in the opening frame.
The momentum continued in the second set as Rutgers jumped out to an early 10-5 lead and held off a late surge from UTPA to take a commanding two sets to none advantage.
With the first victory of the season in sight, RU dominated the third set with 13 kills in 25 attacks to clinch the match.
On the defensive end, Brittany Bozzini (Saratoga, Calif.) led the team with 12 digs, while Kallie Pence (College Station, Texas) picked up 10 more digs to bring her total to a team-leading 61 (4.07 d/s) for the season.
Stephanie Zielinski (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) tallied a match-high 30 assists to bring her sum to 146 for the weekend.
UTPA’s Krysta Freitas led all players with 15 digs.
“I think it has been a rough preseason with some injuries and other things that have gone on, but our resiliency showed as we got better each match this weekend,” said Werneke recapping the tournament. “As a result, we were able to walk away with a win in our last match.”
The next contest is scheduled for Tuesday night at College Ave Gym against NJIT at 6 p.m., but Hurricane Irene may affect the Scarlet Knights travel back to New Jersey. Stay tuned to ScarletKnights.com for updates.
For more information on the Rutgers volleyball team, please log on to ScarletKnights.com to find up-to-date news, stats and information. Also follow the program on Twitter at Twitter.com/RUvball and Facebook at Facebook.com/RutgersVolleyball.
