2015 Volleyball Season Recap
Dec 21 | Women's Volleyball
NEW BRUSNWICK, N.J. - Following a year that included a historic Big Ten victory and continued growth, eighth-year head coach CJ Werneke reflected on the progress and successes of the Rutgers women's volleyball team's 2015 season.
"From last year to this year our program has seen tremendous growth both on and off the court," said Werneke. "We are getting more familiar with the great teams in the Big Ten as well as getting more comfortable with travel, preparation and level of commitment it takes to be competitive in the conference. I know we are making progress in our process and as a result we had a ton of very competitive matches this year."
B1G WIN
Rutgers made history with its first Big Ten victory, defeating Maryland in a five-set thriller on Wednesday, Oct. 21 at the College Ave. Gym. The Scarlet Knights and Terrapins fought an even battle, pushing the match into the decisive fifth set. Although RU fell behind, 7-2, at the start of the stanza, Rutgers redeemed its energy from the earlier sets to rally to a 15-12 win in the fifth to claim the victory.
"Getting our first Big Ten win is a huge hurdle for our program to get over. Now that we have, we feel it's just a starting point moving forward in our process," said Werneke. "It is just the beginning for the program as we are looking to build off that win and the rest of the competitive matches we had this year. Each match will give us something to draw upon moving forward to not only be competitive in this conference, but to win in this conference as well."
The Scarlet Knights have seen improvement on the court and have raised their level of competition in various matches this season. Most notably in its match against then-No. 15 Purdue (Nov. 18), Rutgers' progress came together as the squad pushed the Boilermakers to the brink in a four-set loss. Despite falling behind 2-0 to start the match, Rutgers dominated the third to stay alive with a 27-25 victory. The Scarlet Knights maintained their momentum into the fourth, but the Boilermakers used extra serves to hold off RU, 26-24, to claim the win. Although a loss, these matches highlighted the fight and growth the program has witnessed.
"These matches definitely and definitively show we are making progress. We talk about it all the time as a program, 'This is a process' and the question we ask is 'are we making progress during this process?'," said Werneke.
"Everyone in our program and all the other programs in the Big Ten know that we are."
CHALLENGING SLATE
At the conclusion of the 2015 season, Rutgers schedule ranked as the 23rd toughest schedule in the nation. The Scarlet Knights competed in a total of 12 matches against ranked opponents, facing its highest ranked foe in then-No. 1 Penn State.
Rutgers faced a total of 12 NCAA qualifiers, highlighted by 2015 National Champion, Nebraska. The Big Ten had nine programs in the tournament, five of which garnered a top-16 seed. A conference school has won the title for the past three seasons.
"It's a great challenge and opportunity to compete against so many NCAA tournament teams every year, as the Big Ten produces 7-9 NCAA tournament teams every year. Night in and night out we know what we are in for," said Werneke.
"Being in the Big Ten and competing against so many great programs has improved the program immensely as it forces us as a program to prepare and play our best. If you don't bring your best to each and every match then you don't have an opportunity win. You must bring your "A" game just to have an opportunity to win."
RECORDS
Five Scarlet Knights made their mark in the Rutgers career and single-season charts. Senior defensive specialist Ali Schroeter (Bakersfield, Calif.) became the programs all-time career digs, concluding her career at Rutgers with a total of 1,615 digs. Schroeter's 370 digs this season alone ranks seventh on the single-season charts. The defensive specialist also owns first- and second-place with 544 digs in 2013 and 468 digs in 2014.
Defensive specialist Ronnie Komisarek (San Manteo, Calif.) joined her classmate on the list with her 1,000th career dig to move into eighth on the charts. In the kills column, senior outside hitter Alex Lassa (Eagle, Colo.) cracked the top-10, coming in at ninth with 979 career kills. Classmate and setter Anna Sudbury (Tomahawk, Wis.) joined the group with 1,716 career assists, sitting at seventh in the career books.
Redshirt junior middle blocker Mikaela Matthews (San Diego, Calif.) brought her career block assists to 243, moving into seventh on the charts. Matthews owns 269 career total blocks, needing only two more to break into the top-10 on the total blocks list. Sophomore outside Meme Fletcher (Overland Park, Kan.) sits in 10th on the single-season records list with 1,050 total attempts in 2015.
OFF THE COURT
Nine Scarlet Knights were named Academic All-Big Ten for the Fall 2015 semester. The honorees included Lauren Cloyd, Meme Fletcher, Eden Frazier, Talia Holze, Ronnie Komisarek, Mikaela Matthews, Ali Schroeter, Anna Sudbury and Cole Trimble.
To be eligible for Academic All-Big Ten selection, student-athletes must be letterwinners who are in at least their second academic year at their institution and carry a cumulative grade-point average of 3.0 or higher.
"Our program's academic achievement has become an expectation, a source of success that our players take pride in. We all expect and work toward a high level of academic achievement as that is the foundation for their future."
THANK YOU SENIORS
Rutgers graduated six Scarlet Knights in middle blocker Eden Frazier (Irvine, Calif.), defensive specialist Ronnie Komisarek (San Manteo, Calif.), outside hitter Alex Lassa (Eagle, Colo.), defensive specialist Ali Schroeter (Bakersfield, Calif.), outside hitter Megan Stephenson (Burbank, Calif.) and setter Anna Sudbury (Tomahawk, Wisc.).
"I can't say enough about our senior class. Now that I have had some time to reflect on the season and their four years here, I realized there is no other senior class in the history of collegiate volleyball that has had to go through as much transition as they had to. They were in three different conferences their first three years here at Rutgers, that is amazing just saying it. I am not sure I could have done what they have when I was an athlete. I have a ton of respect for them and always will," said Werneke.
"They have definitely set the foundation and made a starting point with helping us through this transition and achieving our first Big Ten win. No other senior class will be able to say that they were the seniors that helped up get that win."
To view the Scarlet Knights' senior reflections, click here.
NEWCOMERS
The Rutgers volleyball team has signed four newcomers for the 2016-17 season - Jillian Duffin (McKinney, Texas), Megan Sharkey (Bettendorf, Iowa), Jasmine Stackhouse (Detroit, Mich.), and Karysa Swackenberg (Brighton, Colo.) - to join eight returning letterwinners.
"Overall, I feel this is a complete class bringing all the intangibles along with the skills and experience needed to help us continue to make progress for our program. In the end this is a winning class that has won at every level they have been a part of. I believe they will help us win in the Big Ten as well."
For more information on the incoming class, click here.
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