Volleyball Battles Michigan, Breast Cancer on #DigPink Night

Friday, October 13

New Brunswick, N.J.

7 PM

Rutgers University

5-14, 0-7Big Ten

Michigan

13-6, 3-4Big Ten

Michigan

Rutgers

Volleyball Battles Michigan, Breast Cancer on #DigPink Night

Oct 13 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Video Highlights

Scarlet Knights force a fourth set with 25-22 win over Wolverines in second frame

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (Oct. 13, 2017) – Rutgers volleyball forced Michigan to four sets in a Big Ten setback on Friday evening in a pink-clad College Avenue Gymnasium for RWJBarnabas Health Dig Pink Night. The Wolverines (13-6, 3-4) won by set scores of 25-12, 22-25, 25-18, 25-16.

The Scarlet Knights (5-14, 0-7 B1G) won a conference set at home for the first time since Nov. 18, 2015 against Purdue and produced season-high marks for Big Ten matches with 41 kills, 46 digs and 38 assists. The Wolverines, meanwhile, hit over .450 in Sets 1 and 3 en route to a final .308 hitting clip to go with 11 aces and 10 blocks.

Sophomore middle blocker Stasa Miljevic bounced a career-high 10 kills on a .429 hitting percentage, while junior outside hitter Sahbria McLetchie put down 10 kills of her own. Sophomore setter Megan Sharkey passed out her career-high in Big Ten play with 36 assists, sophomore middle blocker Jasmine Stackhouse had a solo block as part of four total stuffs, and sophomore libero Karysa Swackenberg paced the backline with 15 digs.

Michigan used an early 5-0 run before sustaining the lead with three separate four-point spurts down the stretch.

Rutgers earned its first Big Ten set win of the year, and first since late in 2015, on the back of 16 kills, a service ace and two blocks in Set 2. The neck-and-neck frame saw 10 tie scores and four lead changes, and Michigan had the first real advantage with a 4-0 run for the 14-10 lead. Out of a Rutgers timeout, Miljevic powered a 6-2 run on two kills and a block assist as RU knotted the set at 16-16.

The Scarlet Knights answered another 3-0 Michigan spurt with a 5-0 run of their own, capped by head coach CJ Werneke's successful challenge overturned an apparent Wolverine point and Rutgers led 21-19, a lead they would not give up. Sharkey scored on a dump kill, freshman outside hitter Yana Kamshilina served an ace and McLetchie downed two kills for the set win.

Michigan rebounded by never trailing in the third set, riding a 6-0 stint midway through the stanza. Rutgers saved two set points with Kamshilina's kill and freshman opposite hitter Kamila Cieslik's ace before Michigan closed it out.

Werneke won another challenge in Set 4 to push a Rutgers run to 3-0 as the officials saw a blocking error on Michigan upon further review. The Wolverines led 17-13 at that point before going on a 6-1 run to take control and win the road Big Ten match.

Knight Notes

Rutgers won Set 2 and lost the match for the first time this season. They were 5-0 when winning Set 2 before Friday evening.
Michigan improves to 4-0 over Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights took a set from the Wolverines in Ann Arbor in 2015.
41 kills, 46 digs and 38 assists were all season-highs for Rutgers in Big Ten matches.
Sharkey's 36 assists get her to 1,042 for her career and 41 away from cracking the all-time Top 10 in program history.
Kamshilina finished with her highest kill total (8) since posting 11 against Middle Tennessee State on Sept. 15. The rookie swung at a .333 average against Michigan.
Stackhouse added seven kills to her team-high four blocks, and posted the most kills against a B1G opponent since eight at Iowa on Nov. 16, 2016.
Cieslik holds on to second place honors in the Big Ten in the service ace department with two on Friday.

Up Next: The Scarlet Knights host No. 10 Michigan State on Saturday, Oct. 14 at 7 p.m. in the College Ave. Gym.

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