FAIRFIELD, Conn. (September 3, 2011) - Rutgers volleyball faced match point six times, but recovered each instance to take a marathon five-set match over Brown (20-25, 25-17, 21-25, 30-28, 19-17) on Saturday afternoon at the Sacred Heart Invitational. The match took two hours and 38 minutes.

"Five set matches might be the trend this year, but we were able to execute and find a way to win," said head coach CJ Werneke as Rutgers improved to 2-1 in five-set matches. "We are finding out a lot about this team and that we don't panic. That shows the character of our players as we are able to execute in the critical moments of the match with perseverance and resiliency."

The Scarlet Knights (4-3) - winners of the last four matches - received a balanced attack throughout the day with four players recording double-digits kills and four players with at least 10 digs. Stephanie Zielinski (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) (55 assists, 18 digs) and Brittany Bozzini (Saratoga, Calif.) (15 digs, 12 kills) each registered double-doubles.

"Today was a total team effort and that makes it tough when teams have to worry about defending three or more players," said Werneke. "That is something that can be strength of this team, keeping the opponent on their toes at all times."

After dropping two of the first three sets, things looked bleak for RU as they faced match point twice in the fourth set. However, a Hannah Curtis (Wasilla, Alaska) kill and a Brown ball handling error kept the set going, allowing the Scarlet Knights to win 30-28. The set was capped by a dramatic service ace from Alex Jones (Chesapeake, Va.) to send the match the distance.

The momentum continued for Rutgers early in the fifth and deciding set as RU jumped out to an 11-6 lead, but Brown (0-2) responded by winning eight of the next nine points to give themselves two more shots to win the match.

However, the Bears were denied once again as the Scarlet Knights won the next two points to even the score at 14. The next four points alternated between kills from Brown's Maddie Lord and RU's Jones with the Bears having two more chances to win it in the process. Rutgers grabbed the match on a Curtis kill and Brown error to send the Scarlet Knights to victory once again.

Jones recorded at least 20 kills for the third straight match, picking up 21 against Brown, including four to stave off match point in the fifth set.

Annika Gliottone picked up 46 digs and Alexandra Rieckhoff notched 60 assists in defeat for Brown.

The Scarlet Knights will continue the tournament with a match against 2010 NCAA Tournament participant and host Sacred Heart at approximately 4:30 p.m. on Saturday. RU leads and SHU split the series last year.

Sacred Heart University will provide Live Stats for all matches this weekend online at SacredHeartPioneers.com and will stream the match for free on their website. Click here for complete tournament coverage.

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.

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Notes

*Zielinski has recorded at least 40 assists in five of the seven matches this season.

*RU is now 4-0 when leading the match in hitting percentage. The Scarlet Knights hit at a .232 clip versus Brown.

*Zielinkski and Kallie Pence led RU with 18 digs.

*Curtis had a season-high 15 kills.