Volleyball Travels to No. 6 Nebraska Sunday

Sunday, November 12

Lincoln, Neb.

3 PM

Rutgers University

Nebraska

Nov 10 | Women's Volleyball

Match Notes

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (Nov. 10, 2017) - Rutgers volleyball closes out the season series with No. 6 Nebraska on Sunday, Nov. 12 at 3 p.m. ET in the Cornhusker State. The match will be streamed live on BTN2GO with a paid subscription, featuring Larry Punteney on play-by-play and former Husker, Kathi Wieskamp, on color commentary.

THE SLATE

Sunday, Nov. 12 | 3 p.m. ET

No. 6 Nebraska (21-4, 14-1)

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LAST TIME OUT
The Scarlet Knights were barely edged in team blocks, digs and aces against Ohio State on Wednesday at College Ave. Gym, leading to the Buckeyes' straight-set win by scores of 25-21, 25-12, 25-17.

The Buckeyes (14-12, 7-8 B1G) eked out advantages in digs (47-43), blocks (6-4) and service aces (5-3), while hitting .272. The Scarlet Knights (5-22, 0-15) posted their highest attack percentage (.125) and dig total (43) over the last four matches.

Rutgers volleyball hosts its first Big Ten midweek match of the season on Wednesday, Nov. 8 against Ohio State to close out the season series with the Buckeyes. Rutgers then wraps another season series on Sunday, Nov. 12 at No. 6 Nebraska. Both matches will be streamed live on BTN-Plus with a paid subscription, with Patrick Boyle on the play-by-play for Wednesday's home date.

KNIGHT NOTES
• Rutgers dropped a pair of Big Ten matches on the road last week at Michigan and No. 1 Penn State. The Wolverines only out-killed the Scarlet Knights by a 39-32 count, but were much more efficient in the attacking department with a .303 attack clip while holding Rutgers to .095. RU was strong at middle blocker at Penn State as they received six kills from sophomore Jasmine Stackhouse, while sophomore Stasa Miljevic posted four on a team-high errorless .667 hitting clip.

• Junior Sahbria McLetchie is Rutgers' top outside hitter with 2.57 kills/set this season, and a team-best 2.44 through 15 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 No. 17 Purdue in October.

• Freshman opposite hitter Kamila Cieslik posts a team-leading 2.66 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.

• Sophomore setter Megan Sharkey has surpassed another milestone after reaching 1,000 career assists at Ohio State. Now with 1,240 career assists, she has moved into ninth all-time in program history and sits behind Roxy Calder's 1,640.

• Sophomore Stasa Miljevic leads the Scarlet Knights at the net defensively with 0.86 blocks/set, followed closely by sophomore Jasmine Stackhouse's 0.81, pacing a team that has outblocked opponents 11 times this season, including four in the Big Ten. Rutgers is 4-7 in those 11 contests.

• The service line will continue to be important for Rutgers, who ranks eighth in the Big Ten with 1.20 overall service aces per set. Cieslik leads the team in the department with 34 aces, which ranks second overall in the conference, and has at least one ace in 18 of her last 22 matches. Rutgers is 5-1 when out-acing opponents and 0-20 when it does not.

• Sophomore middle blocker Stasa Miljevic, a transfer from Florida State, has at least five kills in 14 matches this season, and combined for 18 against Michigan and Michigan St. Miljevic boasts a team-best .256 attack percentage, while also contributing to a team-high total of 79 blocks. The sophomore hit .429 against Michigan and Michigan State, bouncing 18 kills with three errors on 35 swings.

• Sophomore libero Karysa Swackenberg has a team-high 2.87 digs/set and has paced her team in the dig department in 16 matches this season. She scooped a match-high 16 against No. 5 Minnesota, her most this season in a three-set match and tied for career-best in a Big Ten match. Over her last eight matches, she is averaging 3.0 digs/set with five of those opponents ranked in the AVCA Top 25.

SERIES AT A GLANCE
• Nebraska, then ranked No. 14, claimed a straight-set win in New Brunswick on Sept. 23 to move to 4-0 over Rutgers as opponents in the Big Ten since 2014. Sophomore Jillian Duffin led RU with 10 kills and three blocks, while Nebraska's Annika Albrecht (12 kills, .400 hitting %) and Mikaela Foecke (11 kills, .579 hitting %) paced the Huskers' offense.

COACHES
• Nebraska's John Cook, in his 18th season and the sixth winningest coach of all time, has led the Huskers to three national championships, seven Final Fours, 11 conference championships and 15 top-10 final rankings since 2000.

SCOUTING #6 NEBRASKA (21-4, 14-1 Big Ten)
• The Cornhuskers have been ranked in the AVCA Top 25 for the entire season, reaching as high as No. 4 for two weeks from Oct. 2-15.
• Team defense is the name of the game for Nebraska, who tops the Big Ten and ranks 21st nationally with a .155 opponents' hitting percentage. They also come in at second in the conference in digs/set with 15.3.
• Junior outside hitter Mikaela Foecke is one of the kill leaders in the conference with 3.51 per set, while senior setter Kelly Hunter orchestrates Nebraska's 21st nationally ranked hitting percentage of .273 with 10.77 assists/set.
• Nebraska has two middle blockers with over a block per set in senior Briana Holman (1.05) and redshirt freshman Lauren Stivrins (1.01).

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 five matches remaining in the 2017 season, Rutgers will face the sixth toughest schedule in the nation with the average opponents' winning percentage sitting at .824 with all five teams ranked 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. 6 Nebraska, No. 8 Michigan State, No. 10 Wisconsin and No. 21 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.