BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (Oct. 20, 2017) – Rutgers volleyball dropped a five-set heartbreaker at Indiana on Friday evening in a nationally televised Big Ten match.
 
The Hoosiers (12-9, 1-8 Big Ten) erased a 2-1 deficit by winning Sets 4 and 5, and taking the match by set scores of 25-17, 14-25, 22-25, 25-15, 15-9. The Scarlet Knights (5-16, 0-9) out-blocked and out-dug Indiana, while posting a season-high for conference games with a .276 hitting percentage.
 
"It's disappointing," said head coach CJ Werneke. "We played well enough to win, but didn't finish the job. We played with grit and determination in Sets 2 and 3, but the moment got the better of us in the fourth and fifth. When that happens, your skills start to waver and you're not the same team. You have to be the aggressor like we were earlier."
 
Rutgers led in blocks 7-6 and in digs 60-50, paced by freshman opposite hitter Kamila Cieslik's career-high 19, part of her fourth career double-double with 11 kills. She was one of three Scarlet Knights in double-digit kills, joined by junior Sahbria McLetchie's match-high 16 and sophomore middle blocker Stasa Miljevic's career-high 12.
 
Sophomore setter Megan Sharkey put up 42 assists, her most ever in a Big Ten game, and the most for Rutgers in a conference contest since 2015. In the process, the sophomore entered the program record book for career assists and climbed to No. 9 by game's end with 1,110.
 
Set 1 | Indiana 25, Rutgers 17
Early runs of 3-0 and 4-0 helped the Hoosiers to an 8-4 lead. Rutgers scored two points in a row just twice and hit .194 in the set, while Indiana connected on a .519 attack percentage.
 
Set 2 | Rutgers 25, Indiana 14
The Scarlet Knights flipped the narrative in Set 2 by hitting .476 in the frame compared to IU's .067, and recording the largest margin of victory in a Big Ten set win since joining the conference in 2014.
 
Cieslik's swing came alive with six kills in the stanza, with three of those coming during an 11-1 run to give RU a 15-5 lead. The momentum switch was evident as Indiana head coach Sherry Dunbar-Kruzan to call her second and final timeout before the Hoosiers scored their sixth point. Rutgers cemented the set win with a 5-0 run to make it 22-10 powered by a solo block from sophomore middle blocker Stasa Miljevic and her ensuing kill.
 
Set 3 | Rutgers 25, Indiana 22
Following two lopsided sets, the third was the tightest with 15 tie scores. No one scored more than two points in a row before Indiana strung a 3-0 run to take a 16-13, but RU answered immediately with a 3-0 spurt of its own for yet another knotted score. Kamshilina's ace and McLetchie's kill made it 18-18 and 19-19, respectively, before the Scarlet Knights used a timely 5-1 run to set up set-point at 24-21. Sophomore middle blocker Jasmine Stackhouse finished the job with the kill on Sharkey's 30^th assists of the evening.
 
Set 4 | Indiana 25, Rutgers 15
Indiana claimed the first run of the frame, using a 5-0 stint to go up 9-4. The Hoosiers rediscovered the successful formula from the first set, not allowing RU a run of more than 2-0 for the entire set, while hitting .341 over Rutgers' .182.
 
Set 5 | Indiana 15, Rutgers 9
The Hoosiers got off on the right foot in the do-or-die stanza, breaking through the sky-high intensity for a 3-0 early lead. Stackhouse and Cieslik each bounced a kill as part of a 3-0 RU run to tie the final set at 6-6, but responded with a 5-1 run to take a dangerous 11-7 lead in the shortened set. Miljevic ran her career-high kill total to 12 with a point to bring Rutgers within 11-8 before IU scored the final three points of the match consecutively.
 
Knight Notes

• Miljevic's final line included a career-high 12 kills on .333 hitting, as she takes the team lead in attack percentage for the season and in Big Ten matches. She added three blocks and two digs.
• Cieslik and Stackhouse combined on four block assists, and sophomore libero Karysa Swackenberg posted 15 digs for the second match in a row.
• With 42 assists, Sharkey entered the program's all-time Top 10 list for career assists, and overtook position No. 9 with 1,110 and counting. She surpassed Jennifer DelGais' No. 10 mark of 1,068 and Nicole Bayer's 1,084 at No. 9. Next up is No. 8 Roxy Calder (2005-08) with 1,673 assists.
• Sharkey's 42 assists were the most for Rutgers in a Big Ten game since Anna Sudbury's 49 in 2015 against Maryland.
• With a 7-6 advantage in blocks, RU has out-stuffed opponents 10 times this season, but are 4-6 in those matches. Also leading 12-10 in block assists, Rutgers has more team block assists than its opponents in four of the last five matches.
• Friday's match marked the longest of the season for Rutgers at 2:20, the longest match since a five-setter against Seton Hall in Sept. 2016.
• Cieslik served another ace on Friday, giving her 30 for the season to keep her in second place in the Big Ten. She has at least one ace in five straight match and in 17 of her last 18 contests.

 
Up Next: The Scarlet Knights travel northwest up Indiana to face No. 17 Purdue on Saturday, Oct. 21 at 7 p.m.
 
 
Follow Rutgers Volleyball on Twitter and Instagram (@RUvball) for all of the latest news and updates. The team is also on Facebook (www.facebook.com/RutgersVolleyball). For all Rutgers Athletics news follow us on Twitter(@RUAthletics), Instagram (@RUAthletics), Snapchat (@RUAthletics) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/RutgersAthletics).