STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – While it was a setback for Rutgers volleyball on Friday night against No. 15 Penn State, there were many positives for the Scarlet Knights to leave Rec Hall with.

Rutgers earned their first set win over the Nittany Lions since 2001 in its 3-1 (17-25, 10-25, 25-22, 18-25) loss, while two Scarlet Knights picked up double-doubles and RU captured its most blocks since early September.

 

STANDOUT STATS

• Fifth-year senior Beka Kojadinovic and senior Inna Balyko each had double-doubles. Kojadinovic led the attack with 12 kills and added 13 digs.  Balyko had 22 assists to go along with 14 digs and a team-leading eight blocks.
• Also in double-figure digs were sophomore Madyson Chitty with 19 and fifth-year senior Kamilia Cieslik with 12.
• Rutgers totaled 13.0 blocks led by Balyko's eight and seven from graduate student Megan Vernon, six from redshirt senior Shealyn McNamara and five from Kojadinovic.

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KEY MOMENTS

• Set 1 (17-25) | The host Nittany Lions scored the first four points and opened with a 7-1 edge. Rutgers, however, closed the gap to within four as one of three Kojadinovic kills in the frame saw the Scarlet Knights down 14-10. A PSU service error had RU trailing 15-11 when the Nittany Lions scored four-straight en route to the opening set victory.
• Set 2 (10-25 ) | Penn State took a 6-2 lead to start and hit a game-best .400 for the set. Kojadinovic swung .444 with successful points on four of her nine swings.
• Set 3 (25-22) | For the first time since 2001, Rutgers took a set off of Penn State. Anastasiia Maksimova had four kills and Madyson Chitty and Samantha Graver each added service aces. PSU, meanwhile, hit a game-low .130 and committed nine errors on the attack. The Scarlet Knights produced a 4-0 run as Maksimova gave RU its first-ever lead of the game and block assists from Inna Balyko and Megan Vernon put the Scarlet Knights up 11-9. Four unanswered returned the lead back to the hosts with back-to-back kills from Kaitlyn Hord giving PSU a 17-15 advantage. The Nittany Lions edge held until a 5-0 run capped by a Maksimova swing returned the lead to RU for good at 22-19.
• Set 4 (18-25) | Penn State responded by jumping out to a 6-0 lead, but the Scarlet Knights did not go quietly and closed the gap to within three at 19-16. Rutgers totaled eight blocks in the final set, including three from the hands of Vernon. 

HIGHLIGHTS

 
 

UP NEXT

• The Rutgers volleyball team meets up with another top 25 opponent visiting No. 7 Ohio State on Saturday, Oct. 16 at 7 p.m.
• The game will be streamed on Big Ten Plus.

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