Volleyball Plays First Midweek Match at Northwestern

Wednesday, October 25

Evanston, Ill.

8 PM

Rutgers University

Northwestern

Volleyball Plays First Midweek Match at Northwestern

Oct 24 | Women's Volleyball

Match Notes

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (Oct. 24, 2017) – Rutgers volleyball will play its first midweek match of the season on Wednesday, Oct. 25 at Northwestern at 8 p.m. ET in the finale of a Big Ten home-and-home season series.

THE SLATE

Wednesday, Oct. 25 | 8 p.m. ET

Northwestern (12-10, 2-8 B1G)

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Location: Beardsley Gym
at Evanston Township High School

KNIGHT NOTES
• Rutgers started Big Ten play 0-10 overall and 0-4 on the road with losses to Indiana and No. 17 Purdue last weekend. Indiana erased a 2-1 set deficit to rebound for a five-set victory, Rutgers' fourth five-setter all-time in the Big Ten and first conference match that went the distance since a win over Maryland on Oct. 21, 2015. At nationally ranked Purdue, RU competed in a tight second set that saw seven lead changes and 11 tie scores.

• Junior Sahbria McLetchie is riding a hot streak coming off 30 kills last weekend in Big Ten play. Rutgers' top outside hitter has 2.82 kills/set this season, and a team-best 2.82 through 10 conference matches. In back-to-back matches against Buffalo and Seton Hall, she recorded 17 and 19 kills, respectively, before picking up a total of 30 at Indiana and Purdue last weekend. Over her last four Big Ten matches, McLetchie is averaging 3.2 kills/set.

• Freshman opposite hitter Kamila Cieslik posts a team-leading 2.83 kills/set. Cieslik was named to three All-Tournament Teams this preseason, including an MVP performance at the ECU Invitational. She made the Seton Hall Classic All-Tournament Team with 3.67 kills/set on a .424 hitting percentage, four service aces, 14 digs and eight blocks. She was also named to the Kangaroo Klassic All-Tournament Team with 21 kills, seven blocks and 18 digs. She served up at least one ace per match over that stretch with four total.

• Sophomore setter Megan Sharkey has surpassed another milestone after reaching 1,000 career assists at Ohio State. Now with 1,138 career assists, she has moved into ninth all-time in program history and sits behind Roxy Calder's 1,640.

• Sophomore Jasmine Stackhouse leads the Scarlet Knights at the net defensively with 0.89 blocks/set, pacing a team that has outblocked opponents 10 times this season. Rutgers is 4-6 in those contests, including three in the Big Ten.

• The service line will continue to loom important for Rutgers, who ranks eighth in the Big Ten with 1.32 overall service aces per set. Cieslik leads the team in the department with 32 aces, which ranks second overall in the conference, and has at least one ace in 18 of her last 19 matches. She ranks 34th nationally with 0.42 aces/set. Rutgers is 5-1 when out-acing an opponents and 0-15 when it does not.

• Sophomore middle blocker Stasa Miljevic, a transfer from Florida State, has at least five kills in 11 matches this season, and combined for 18 against Michigan and Michigan State last weekend. Miljevic boasts a team-best .252 attack percentage, while also contributing to a team-high total of 68 blocks. The sophomore hit .429 against Michigan and Michigan State, bouncing 18 kills with three errors on 35 total swings.

• Sophomore libero Karysa Swackenberg has a team-high 2.81 digs/set and has paced her team in the dig department in 12 matches this season. She scooped a team-high nine digs at No. 17 Purdue while adding three assists from the backline.

SERIES AT A GLANCE
• Northwestern improved to 4-0 all-time over Rutgers following a straight-set win (25-19, 25-13, 25-12) on Sept. 29 in New Jersey. The 2017 season marks the first time the two teams will play twice in a season.

COACHES
• Northwestern is guided by second-year head coach Shane Davis, who has a 22-32 record. Davis came to the Wildcats with a 265-88 record coaching the Loyola (Chicago) men's team to back-to-back NCAA championships in 2014 and 2015.

SCOUTING NORTHWESTERN (12-10, 2-8 Big Ten)
• Following a 10-2 non-conference record, the Wildcats have started 2-8 in the Big Ten with wins over Rutgers and Indiana, and have lost five straight dating back to Oct. 8.
• The Wildcats are most dangerous at the service line, where they have recorded 1.72 aces per set, tops in the Big Ten and ranked 10th nationally. Senior setter Taylor Tashima leads the way with 26 aces.
• Senior outside hitter Symone Abbott is the Big Ten's leading attacker with 4.34 kills/set, followed by freshman Nia Robinson's 3.35.
• Tashima also does the vast majority of the setting with 11.15 assists/set, good for fifth in the conference, along with 2.52 digs/set and 44 total blocks.
• Senior middle blocker Gabrielle Hazen boasts a team-best 1.20 total blocks per set, while also averaging 2.15 kills/set on a .340 attack percentage.

ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE
Senior setter Talia Holze and redshirt senior Brooke Enners were inducted into the Delta Chapter of Chi Alpha Sigma Society, the first national scholar-athlete society to honor collegiate student-athletes who have excelled in both the classroom and in athletic competition. They recognized for their achievements during halftime of the Rutgers football game against Ohio State on Saturday, September 30 in an on-field ceremony.

To earn induction into the honor society, a student-athlete must attend a four-year accredited college or university that is an NCAA or NAIA member, achieve junior status, hold a minimum 3.4 GPA, have an endorsement from their head coach and be of good moral character. Both Holze and Enners were also members of the Fall 2016 Academic All-Big Ten Team and Big Ten Distinguished Scholars for earning GPA's over 3.7. Enners completed the 2016-17 academic year with a perfect 4.0 grade-point average.

FLOORED
Rutgers volleyball debuted its brand new Taraflex playing surface at the College Ave. Gym upon the opening of 2017 Big Ten play against Iowa on Sept. 22, 2017.

With the floor's installation, the Scarlet Knights become one of just 26 NCAA Division I programs to utilize Gerflor USA's Taraflex floor, the exact surface used at the last 11 Summer Olympic Games. The portable Taraflex floor at Rutgers, featuring RU's signature colors, fonts and logos, is the only one of its kind among collegiate programs in the Northeast region and one of just nine to be used by a Power 5 institution across the nation.

B1G CHALLENGE
With 10 matches remaining in the 2017 season, Rutgers will face the third toughest schedule in the nation with the average opponents' winning percentage sitting at .720 with eight of 10 teams ranked or receiving votes in the AVCA Top 25 Poll.

The preseason American Volleyball Coaches Association Top 25 rankings included eight programs from the Big Ten, including four in the Top 10.

Current ranked programs include No. 1 Penn State, No. 5 Minnesota, No. 7 Nebrasa, No. 9 Wisconsin, No. 10 Michigan State and No. 17 Purdue. Rutgers hosts Nebraska, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Ohio State, Purdue and Penn State - all of which were ranked in the Preseason Top 25 - this season in the College Ave. Gym.

NATIONAL EXPOSURE
Rutgers appeared twice on national television this season on Oct. 6 at Maryland and on Oct. 20 at Indiana.

AROUND THE WORLD
The Scarlet Knights' roster represents nine states, including California, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, New Jersey, Tennessee and Texas. California and Texas lead the way with two roster entries apiece. RU also has international representation with a total of five players from Israel, Puerto Rico, Serbia or Russia.