Volleyball Hosts Rutgers Invitational

Friday, September 6

New Brunswick, NJ

10:30 AM

Rutgers University

Towson

Sep 05 | Women's Volleyball

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Scarlet Knights welcome Towson, Princeton and Virginia to College Ave. Gym

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (Sept. 5, 2019) - Rutgers volleyball opens its 2019 home slate by hosting the Rutgers Invitational inside the College Avenue Gymnasium. The tourney begins on Friday, Sept. 6 at 10:30 a.m. against Towson, and continues against Princeton on Friday evening at 4:30 p.m. The Scarlet Knights close with a match opposite Virginia on Saturday at 2 p.m.

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THE SCOUT

Towson went a perfect 3-0 without dropping a set to open its season at the Morgan State Invitational last weekend, sweeping Quinnipiac, Seton Hall and Morgan State. The Tigers averaged 14 kills per set while hitting .284.
Princeton opens its 2019 season at the Rutgers Invitational after a 19-6 campaign last fall that included a 12-2 run in the Ivy League. The Tigers return their top attacker, setter and libero to this year's squad.
Virginia is off a 2-1 start with home victories over Furman and Loyola (Md.), with a setback to Coastal Carolina. The Cavaliers are hitting .237 as a team heading into their first matches away from Charlottesville.

HEAD-TO-HEAD

KNIGHT NOTES

• Senior libero Karysa Swackenberg scooped a career-high 27 digs in the five-set match against Grand Canyon last Saturday 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 1,013 digs.

• All but one starter returns to the Rutgers lineup for the 2019 campaign. Those 11 players account for 93% of last year's aces, 90% of the digs, 81% of the record-setting blocking totals and 76% of the kills.

• Senior middle Jasmine Stackhouse raised her career total to 304 blocks, which ranks eighth in the all-time record book at Rutgers. Her 120 total blocks last season are a school record for a single season since 25-point rally scoring began in 2008.

• Sophomore setter Inna Balyko surpassed the 1,000 assist mark as a freshman, and now ranks 10th all-time with 1,174. The rookie reached the 1K milestone in 108 sets played and ended the year with 9.32 assists per set. Balyko earned the program's first Big Ten weekly honor with a Freshman of the Week nod on Sept. 3, 2018.

• The Scarlet Knights set a new 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.

• Rutgers set four of the Top 10 single match hitting percentage performances over the last decade during the 2018 season ... .377 vs. Coppin State (4th), .372 vs. Howard (5th), .356 vs. Rider (6th) and .336 vs. Holy Cross (8th).

• Rutgers has set eight school records during the 2018 season. All records are from the 25-point rally-scoring era beginning in 2008.
   • Rutgers - 300 total team blocks (single season record)
   • Rutgers - 2.63 blocks per set (single season record)
   • Jasmine Stackhouse - 120 total blocks (single season record)
   • Jasmine Stackhouse - 12 blocks in a five-set match vs. Mich. St. (Nov. 14)
   • Rutgers - 18 blocks in a five-set match vs. Michigan State (Nov. 14)
   • Rutgers - 14 service aces vs. Coppin State (Aug. 31)
   • Inna Balyko - 47 assists in a three-set match vs. Howard (Sept. 7)
   • Stasa Miljevic - 10 blocks in a four-set match vs. Navy (Sept. 8)

• Sophomore Merle Weidt received the starting nod as a freshman at middle blocker and proved she belonged in the spot with 1.34 kills per set and helping Rutgers break the program blocking record with 0.99 per set.

UP NEXT

The Scarlet Knights head to Hamilton, N.Y. for the Ellis Rowland Memorial Tournament hosted by Colgate on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 13-14. Rutgers will face New Hampshire, Quinnipiac and the host Raiders.