NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. – The Rutgers volleyball team returned to the College Ave Gym on Wednesday night for another Big Ten top 25 matchup. The Scarlet Knights fell 3-0 (25-16, 25-19, 25-17) to No. 9 Ohio State wrapping up the season series with the Buckeyes.
 

STANDOUT STATS

• Fifth-year senior Beka Kojadinovic led RU with 10 kills, while classmate Kamila Cieslik added nine and graduate student Samantha Graver totaled her best as a Scarlet Knight with seven kills.
• Inna Balyko contributed 29 assists on the night.
• Defensively, Madyson Chitty collected 10 digs, while Kojadinovic and McNamara had three blocks apiece.

KEY MOMENTS

• Set 1 (16-25) | The visiting Buckeyes led the entire opening frame hitting a game-best .526. Meanwhile, for Rutgers, Beka Kojadinovic posted kills on six of her nine swings hitting .667 for the set. The Scarlet Knights committed just one attack error on 33 attempts.
• Set 2 (19-25) | The closest set of the night endured four ties and three lead changes early before the Ohio State stayed ahead. An ace by Kamila Cieslik put RU up 4-3, but a 4-0 burst by the Buckeyes gave the opposition the lead for good. Ohio State led by no more than three until scoring four straight to close out the set. A swing from Samantha Graver and a Buckeye error saw the Scarlet Knights pull within a point down 15-14, but a 4-1 run maintained the OSU advantage. Cieslik ended the frame with six kills.
• Set 3 (17-25) | Shealyn McNamara tied up the final set at 4-4 when the Buckeyes used four consecutive points to go in front. The Buckeyes pushed its lead up to six with Rutgers cutting its deficit down to three thanks in part to back-to-back kills from Kojadinovic as her squad trailed 15-12. OSU countered not allowing the Scarlet Knights to capture back-to-back points until late in the stanza en route to the win. Both Kojadinovic and Graver led the attack with four kills each in the final set.

HIGHLIGHTS

 

KNIGHT NOTES

• With a trio of blocks, Shealyn McNamara moved one step closer to cracking the all-time single-season top ten. McNamara upped her season total to 112 and needs one more rejection to tie Ashleigh Young (2005) for tenth all-time. Additionally, she moved into a tie for second on the rally-era single-season list with Mikaela Matthews (2014).
• With her 10 kills, Beka Kojadinovic moved into fourth place on the rally era career leaders list in the category past Hannah Curtis (2008-11). She has tallied 874 career kills to date. Additionally, Kamila Cieslik's nine kills against the Buckeyes moved up her up the list into seventh passing former teammate Meme Fletcher (2014-17) with 784 career kills.
• Kojadinovic's three blocks furthered her name up the rally-era total blocks list. She moved into seventh all-time past fellow Belgrade, Serbian native Stasa Miljevic (2017-19) totaling 208 career rejections.
• Inna Balyko continued to climb the single-season rally era assist leaders list with her 29 helpers against the Buckeyes. Balyko, who has appeared on the list in all four of her season, currently has 794 assists this fall landing in seventh and surpassing Stephanie Zielinski (2009).

UP NEXT

• The Scarlet Knights close out the 2021 fall schedule hosting Iowa on Friday at 5:30 p.m. at the College Ave Gym.

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