Volleyball On The Road To Meet Northwestern & No. 25 Illinois

Friday, November 15

Evanston, IL

8:00 PM

Rutgers University

Northwestern

Photo by: Rich Graessle

Volleyball On The Road To Meet Northwestern & No. 25 Illinois

Nov 12 | Women's Volleyball

Match Notes Watch - Northwestern Live Stats - Northwestern Watch - Illinois Live Stats - Illinois

PISCATAWAY, N.J. - The Rutgers women's volleyball team is on the road for its next three matches beginning with a road swing to Northwestern to close out the season series on Friday, Nov. 15 and then on to No. 25 Illinois to its sixth top 25 matchup on Saturday, Nov. 16. Both matches serve up action at 8 p.m. (ET).

HEAD-TO-HEAD

ABOUT RUTGERS

Rutgers embarks on its final road swing of the 2019 campaign beginning with this weekend's trip to Northwestern on Friday, Nov. 15 and No. 25 Illinois on Saturday, Nov. 16. The Scarlet Knights will then close out the road portion of its schedule at No. 16 Purdue on Wednesday, Nov. 20.
The Scarlet Knights have picked up wins in two of their last five matches with a five-set victory at home over Northwestern on Oct. 27 and a straight-set win at Iowa on Nov. 2
RU is coming off a 3-0 (25-19, 25-12, 25-21) setback to then-No. 15 Purdue and a 3-0 loss to Indiana at home at the College Avenue Gym after having won two of their previous three contests.
Against the Boilermakers on Friday night, the fifth nationally-ranked squad the Scarlet Knights have faced this season, sophomore outside hitter Anastasiia Maksimova led the Scarlet Knight attack for the third-straight contest with eight kills. Meanwhile, junior hitter Beka Kojadinovic, posted six her her seven kills in the third set, the closest set of the night in which Rutgers trailed 12-11 and was close as 20-17 down the stretch.
In Saturday's contest versus the Hoosiers, Kojadiovic led the offense with seven swings, with Maksimova and senior middle Stasa Miljevic each contributing six kills. Sophomore setter Inna Balyko registered fifth-straight double-double with 29 assist and a game-high 10 digs to go along with a pair of service aces.
Balyko has put together five-straight double-doubles (assists/digs) and has 11 on the season. Over the course of the last five games, Balyko has averaged 9.29 assists/set and 3.35 digs/set during the span. On the year she is averaging 8.72 assists/set and 2.41 digs/set.
In its last meeting with Northwestern, RU picked up wins in the first two tightly contested sets (27-25, 26-24) before Northwestern powered back (25-16, 25-23) to force the fifth and deciding set where RU prevailed (15-10) to earn its first Big Ten win since 2015.
In the victory over the Wildcats, four Scarlet Knights picked up double digit kills led by sophomore outside hitter Tali Marmen (14) and sophomore middle Merle Weidt (13), while junior Beka Kojadinovic set a new mark in digs (16) and sophomore setter Inna Balyko collected a new career best in assists (52).
Last year against the Illini, the Scarlet Knights' second-to-last contest of the 2018 season, Rutgers set a new season mark in blocks surpassing the previous school record of 291.5 set in 2013. The Scarlet Knights with end the season with 300 total blocks, averaging 2.63 per set, ranking 27th in the nation and fourth in the Big Ten.

ABOUT NORTHWESTERN

The Wildcats host the Scarlet Knights with a 10-16 overall record and 1-13 record in Big Ten action.
Following the loss to Rutgers at the College Avenue Gym on Oct. 27, Northwestern swept Michigan State in their next outing, but have dropped their last three matchups in contests with Michigan, No. 5 Nebraska and the rematch with the Spartans, which reached five sets.
Temi Thomas-Ailara leads the Wildcats offensively at 4.18 kills/set, second-best in the Big Ten, along with a.215 hitting percentage and 0.35 services/set.
Meanwhile, Payton Chang directs Northwestern to 9.94 assists/set.
Libero Lexi Pitsas leads the defense at 3.50 digs/set with Alana Walker contributing 0.95 blocks/set.

ABOUT ILLINOIS

The Illini welcome the Scarlet Knights after hosting and currently hold a 12-11 overall record and 7-7 mark in Big Ten play.
Most recently, Illinois dropped a four-set match to Michigan, who entered the AVCA Poll this week after downing the Illini, 25-23, 25-15, 23-25, 25-18.
Senior outside hitter Jacqueline Quade is the top offensive player in the Big Ten and is 19th in the country at 4.13 kills/set to go along with her team-leading 34 service aces.
As a team, Illinois is recording 1.49 aces/set, the third best in the Big Ten.
Redshirt freshman setter Diana Brown has directed the attack with 10.79 assists/set coming in fifth in the league.
Defensively, junior libero Morgan O'Brien leads Illinois at 3.65 digs/set, while at the net senior middle Ashlyn Fleming leads the team with 0.99 blocks/set.

ABOUT THE BIG TEN

As a team, Rutgers is fourth in the Big Ten in blocks (2.53) and is one of six teams in the league to have at least two players ranked among the top 15. Merle Weidt is currently tied for eighth in the conference (1.17), while Rutgers all-time block assist leader Jasmine Stackhouse is 13th in the category (1.09).
Inna Balyko, meanwhile, is ninth in the Big Ten in assists (8.69).
In Big Ten only matches, Rutgers has been averaging 1.17 service aces/set, with Tali Marmen tied for eighth averaging 0.33 aces/set in league matches.

IN THE RECORD BOOKS

Against Northwestern on Oct. 27, senior middle Jasmine Stackhouse took over sole possession of the Rutgers all-time block assist record and currently has 344 to top the list.
Stackhouse is also fifth on the all-time total blocks list with 368 and needs three more to surpass Mikaela Matthews (2012-16) for fourth all-time.
Sophomore setter Inna Balyko moved into seventh all-time in assists with against No. 8 Nebraska on Nov. 1. With 1,820 assists in her two years "On The Banks", Balyko needs 448 to move past Danaan Luc (1984-87) into sixth place.
Balyko's 759 assists in 2019 places her eighth on the single season charts. As a freshman in 2018, she captured 1,063 assists to put her name third on the list.
Senior libero Karysa Swackenberg's 15 digs vs. the Wildcats on Oct. 27 moved her up into third on the all-time digs list. She has 1,243 digs in her four years at Rutgers and needs 102 more to move into second all-time past Shayla Bush (2000-03).

TRENDING

The Scarlet Knights are 6-0 when hitting over .250 and against Iowa on Nov. 2 had its second best attack percentage in a Big Ten matchup swinging for .282.
RU is 7-4 this season when winning the third set. Most recently, RU led from start to finish in the third set at Ohio State on Oct. 23 and clinched a victory over Iowa on Nov. 2 with a 25-19 third set win.
Tali Marmen has led or tied for the team-lead in services aces 10 times this season.
Anastasiia Maksimova has led RU in kills in four of the last five matchups dating back to RU's first meeting with Northwestern. Over that span, she has averaged 2.59 kills/set.
Rutgers had led or tied for the lead in team blocks in 13 of its 25 matches, including seven of the last 11 Big Ten 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 6-1 this season when winning the first set and 6-0 when leading in attack percentage.

UP NEXT

The Scarlet Knights close out the road portion of its 2019 schedule and close out the season series with No. 16 Purdue on Wednesday, Nov. 20.

Follow Rutgers women's volleyball on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

- RU -