Volleyball Geared Up For Trip to No. 7 Minnesota

Saturday, October 5

Minneapolis, MN

9:00 PM ET

Rutgers University

No. 7 Minnesota

Photo by: AP

Volleyball Geared Up For Trip to No. 7 Minnesota

Oct 04 | Women's Volleyball

Match Notes Live Stats Watch on BTN+

Scarlet Knights set for their third consecutive match against a Top 10 nationally ranked opponent

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (Oct. 27, 2019) - Rutgers volleyball (6-8, 0-3) treks to No. 7 Minnesota (9-2, 3-0) on Saturday evening at 9 p.m. ET (8 p.m. CT).

The road test will be the third consecutive match against teams in the Top 10 of the latest AVCA Coaches Poll following a trip to No. 5 Penn State last Saturday and a home date against No. 2 Nebraska on Wednesday.

THE SCOUT

Minnesota (9-2, 3-0) has won eight straight, including a perfect start in Big Ten play through three matches coming off a four-set victory at Iowa on Wednesday. Middle blocker Regan Pittman, a 2018 Second Team All-America selection, hit .640 in that win at Iowa with 16 kills. The Gophers' 15.51 kills per set lead the nation, while Kylie Miller is the nation's top setter, statistically, with 14.51 assists per set.

HEAD-TO-HEAD

KNIGHT NOTES

• Between Sept. 6 and Sept. 14, Rutgers volleyball won two tournaments in a row, six straight matches and 12 consecutive sets for its longest winning streak since 2012, when the program won 12 straight matches for a 14-1 start to the season.

• The Scarlet Knights are once again nationally ranked in blocking - coming in at 32nd place this week with 2.59 per set, which ranks fourth in the Big Ten. RU set a program record for blocks in a season in 2018 with 300 total and 2.63 per set. Rutgers ended the season ranked 27th in the nation and fourth in the Big Ten in blocking last fall.

• Senior libero Karysa Swackenberg was named the Big Ten Volleyball Defensive Player of the Week for her performance during the period ending Sept. 8. The honor is the first of its kind for Rutgers since joining the conference in 2014.

• After setting eight school records in 2018, the Scarlet Knights already have two new program marks in the books for 2019. The team set a record for blocks in a four-set match with 18 against Towson on Sept. 6, while sophomore middle Merle Weidt totaled 12 blocks - an individual record for blocks in a four-setter.

• Swackenberg scooped a career-high 27 digs in the five-set match against Grand Canyon on Aug. 31 as she surpassed 1,000 career digs as a Scarlet Knight. She becomes just the eighth player in program history to reach 1,000 digs, and now ranks seventh all-time with 1,123 digs.

• Senior middle Jasmine Stackhouse raised her career total to 342 blocks, which ranks seventh in the all-time record book at Rutgers. Stackhouse was named to the Ellis Rowland Memorial All-Tournament Team at Colgate with 16 blocks in nine sets to go with 21 kills.

• Sophomore setter Inna Balyko was also named to the All-Tournament Team at Colgate with 86 assists, 30 digs and eight kills in three sets, while directing an offense that hit .294 over the weekend without dropping a set. She already ranks ninth all-time in Rutgers history with 1,496 career assists.

• Freshman setter Caitlin Kikta made her collegiate debut with eight assists, four digs and a kill against Michigan last Wednesday in CJ Werneke's first deployment of the 6-2 rotation this season. She bested that assist total last Saturday at Penn State with 12.

TRENDING

• Rutgers has six or more service aces in eight of 14 matches this season.
• RU is 6-2 this season when winning the third set.
• Tali Marmen has led or tied for the team-lead in services aces six times this season.
• Rutgers had led or tied for the lead in team blocks in half of its matches.
• Rutgers had led or tied for the lead in team service aces in 10 of 14 matches.
• Seven Scarlet Knights have 1.5 or more kills per set, while six different RU players have led a match in kills this season.
• Rutgers is undefeated this season when winning the first set (4-0) and when leading in attack percentage (5-0).
• The Scarlet Knights are 5-0 when hitting over .250.

UP NEXT

The Scarlet Knights return home to New Brunswick to host a Big Ten weekend against Ohio State (Friday, Oct. 11 - 7 p.m.) and Maryland (Saturday, Oct. 12 - 7 p.m.).