Volleyball Hosts No. 15 Purdue & Indiana

Friday, November 8

New Brunswick, NJ

7:00 PM

Rutgers University

Purdue

Nov 06 | Women's Volleyball

Match Notes Watch - Purdue Watch - Indiana Live Stats Parking

Both Matches Serve Up Action at 7 p.m. at the College Avenue Gym

PISCATAWAY, N.J. - The Rutgers women's volleyball team returns to the College Avenue Gym to play host to No. 15 Purdue on Friday, Nov. 8 and Indiana on Saturday, Nov. 9. Both games serve up action starting at 7 p.m.

PROMOTIONS

Friday vs. Purdue - Celebrate the 150th anniversary of college football at the site where that first game happened. The first 20 fans will receive a replica statue commemorating the Birthplace of College Football, plus fans to the opportunity to win four (4) tickets to the Rutgers football vs. Ohio State game on Nov. 16.
Saturday vs. Indiana - The annual BLACKOUT GAME with a postgame autograph meet & greet with the Scarlet Knights. Rutgers students in attendance can pick up a raffle ticket to win one of twelve gift cards to Wings Over Rutgers, Tacoria, Stuff Yer Face, Starbucks and the Rutgers Cinema. The Scarlet Knights will also welcome Special Olympics New Jersey to the match.

HEAD-TO-HEAD

ABOUT RUTGERS

Rutgers volleyball has picked up wins in two of their last three matches with a five-set victory at home over Northwestern on Oct. 27 and a straight-set win at Iowa on Saturday night.
Against the Wildcats, 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 Northwester, 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).
RU hit the road for their next two matches starting off last weekend's road trip with a loss to No. 8 Nebraska (25-10, 25-10, 25-20) on Friday night.
In the third set against the Huskers, Rutgers at one point trailed by one, 14-13, and put together a late 6-1 run closing their deficit to 21-19 before Nebraska prevailed with four of the match's next five points to take the win.
The Scarlet Knights rebounded on Saturday night with its first-ever Big Ten road win and first-ever Big Ten sweep at Iowa. The 25-23, 25-19, 25-19 win also marked the second Big Ten victory of the season and gave RU its most wins since 2012.
Against the Hawkeyes, Anastasiia Maksimova led Rutgers with 10 kills, which included swings to seal wins in the second and third sets. She also was one of four Scarlet Knights in double digit digs with 13. Her 13 digs tied her career mark for a fourth-time also having recorded 13 digs in the win over the Wildcats in her last home appearance.

ABOUT PURDUE

The Boilermakers enter the College Avenue Gym at 15-6 overall, 7-5 in Big Ten matchups and ranked at No. 15 in this week's AVCA Top 25 Poll.
Junior outside hitter Caitlyn Newton directs the offense at a league fifth-best 3.72 kills/set with redshirt senior middle Blake Mohler hitting at .324 and both are aided by redshirt sophomore Hayley Bush's 10.75 assists/set.
As a team, the Boilermakers are fourth in the Big Ten in service aces (1.42) led by junior Jena Otec averaging 0.42 aces/set.
Defensively, Purdue leads the Big Ten in blocks (2.81) with a trio of Boilermakers ranked among the league's top 15. Redshirt senior Shavona Cuttino leads her squad and is third in the conference at 1.33 blocks/set.
Additionally, the Boilermakers leader in aces, Otec, is averaging a team best 3.88 digs/set.

ABOUT INDIANA

The Hoosiers begin the weekend at 12-13 overall and 1-11 in the Big Ten action and will meet No. 8 before making their way to New Jersey. Indiana has dropped eight-straight with its last win coming in four sets at home against Northwestern on Oct. 5.
On the offense, sophomore outside hitter Breana Edward enters the weekend leading the Hoosiers with 3.19 kills/set with senior middle Deyshia Lofton swinging for a .316 hitting percentage. Senior Victoria Brisack, meanwhile, puts up 5.03 assists/set
Freshman libero Hayley Armstrong is posting 3.66 digs/set to rank ninth in the Big Ten.

ABOUT THE BIG TEN

As a team, Rutgers is fourth in the Big Ten in blocks (2.54) and is one of six teams in the league to have at least two players ranked among the top 15. Merle Weidt is currently eighth in the conference (1.19), while Rutgers all-time block assist leader Jasmine Stackhouse checks in tied for 10^th in the category (1.11).
Inna Balyko, meanwhile, is ninth in the Big Ten in assists (8.65).
In Big Ten only matches, Rutgers has been averaging 1.20 service aces/set, which places them sixth and Merle Weidt checks in 10^th in hitting percentage (.320).

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 340 to top the list.
Stackhouse is also fifth on the all-time total blocks list with 363 and needs eight 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 1,765 assists in her two years "On The Banks", Balyko needs 503 to move past Danaan Luc (1984-87) into sixth place.
Balyko's 703 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 1,227 digs in her four years at Rutgers and needs 117 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.
Rutgers had led or tied for the lead in team blocks in 13 of its 22 matches, including the last four-straight and in seven of the last nine 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 hit the road for their next three matches traveling to Northwestern on Friday, Nov. 15 and Illinois on Saturday, Nov. 16 before wrapping up the road schedule at Purdue on Wednesday, Nov. 20.

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