Volleyball Begins Final Home Stand Against No. 15 Purdue Wednesday

Wednesday, November 15

New Brunswick, N.J.

7 PM

Rutgers University

Purdue

Volleyball Begins Final Home Stand Against No. 15 Purdue Wednesday

Nov 14 | Women's Volleyball

Match Notes

SAAC to host Toy Drive before and during the match; receive a t-shirt for donating a toy.

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (Nov. 14, 2017) - Rutgers volleyball begins its final home stand of the 2017 season on Wednesday, Nov. 15 against No. 15 Purdue at 7 p.m. in the College Ave. Gym. The match will be streamed live on BTN Plus with a paid subscription, featuring play-by-play from Patrick Boyle.

THE SLATE

Wednesday, Nov. 15 | 7 p.m.

No. 15 Purdue (20-7, 10-6)

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KNIGHT NOTES
• Rutgers dropped a pair of Big Ten matches last week in straight sets, at home against Ohio State, and on the road at No. 6 Nebraska. Against the Buckeyes, middle blockers Stasa Miljevic and Jasmine Stackhouse combined for 10 kills, a .416 attack percentage and four total blocks. In front of 8,135 fans at Nebraska, senior setter Talia Holze made her first start in a calendar year and passed out 20 assists, eight of which went to freshman outside hitter Yana Kamshilina.

• Junior Sahbria McLetchie is Rutgers' top outside hitter with 2.56 kills/set this season, and a team-best 2.43 through 16 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 2.62 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 0.83 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 11th in the Big Ten with 1.18 overall service aces per set. Cieslik leads the team in the department with 35 aces, which ranks third overall in the conference. Rutgers is 5-1 when out-acing opponents and 0-20 when it does not, and has at least one ace in 36 straight matches dating back to the 2016 season.

• 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 .258 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 2.84 digs/set and has paced her team in the dig department in 17 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.

SERIES AT A GLANCE
• Purdue moved to 8-0 over Rutgers all-time thanks to its straight-set win in West Lafayette, Ind. on Oct. 21. Rutgers' Sahbria McLetchie led all attackers with 14 kills. The second set saw the Scarlet Knights up 19-14 after an 8-1 run before the Boilermakers stormed back for the win.

COACHES
• Purdue is helmed by 15th-year head coach Dave Shondell, who has led the Boilermakers to 11 NCAA Tournament berths, seven Sweet Sixteens, and two Elite Eight appearances. He was named the Big Ten and Mideast Region Coach of the Year in 2011.

SCOUTING #15 PURDUE (20-7, 10-6 Big Ten)
• The Boilermakers enjoyed their most successful week of the season, and perhaps recent memory, when they hosted and defeated a pair of AVCA Top 10 teams in No. 5 Minnesota in four and No. 10 Wisconsin in straight sets.
• Purdue does their damage on attack with efficiency, hitting at a .319 clip to rank third nationally and second in the Big Ten. The Boilermakers also rank 14th nationally with 14.43 kills/set.
• Senior outside hitter Danielle Cuttino's 4.09 kills/set rank second in the Big Ten and 38th in the NCAA.
• Redshirt senior setter Ashley Evans continues to rank near the top of the Big Ten and nation at the position with 11.55 assists/set, coming in third in the B1G and 14th in the country.

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 four matches remaining in the 2017 season, Rutgers will face the toughest schedule in the nation with the average opponents' winning percentage sitting at .814 with all four teams ranked in the Top 15 of the AVCA national 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 Nebraska, No. 7 Minnesota, No. 8 Michigan State, No. 12 Wisconsin and No. 15 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.