NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. -- The Rutgers volleyball team continued Sunday's busy day of events on campus taking a set off the No. 8 Purdue Boilermakers and keeping sets three and four close in a 3-1 setback at the College Ave Gym.

The Scarlet Knights took the opening frame 25-20 while the Boilermakers evened the match out following with a 25-12 victory. RU dropped sets three and four by identical 25-20 scores.
 

STANDOUT STATS

• Fifth-year senior Beka Kojadinovic collected 16 kills and three aces to lead the offense while also adding a team-leading 15 digs and four blocks.
• Sophomore Tina Grkovic was also in double-digit kills with a season-high 11.
• Senior Inna Balyko also posted a double-double with 34 assists and 14 digs.
• Redshirt season Shealyn McNamara led RU with six blocks.

KEY MOMENTS

• Set 1 (25-20) | Rutgers led from start to finish in the first frame getting a set win over the nationally-ranked Boilermakers. The Scarlet Knights opened with a 7-1 lead and only allowed Purdue to close the gap to within three. The Boilermakers narrowed RU's lead to 11-8, but the Scarlet Knights would go on to lead by as many seven as a swing from Inna Balyko put RU up 17-10. Purdue once again lessened its deficit to three, trailing 21-18 thanks in part to a pair of aces from Marissa Hournung but Rutgers punched back with two of Beka Kojadinovic's five kills in the set enr oute to the 1-0 edge. 
• Set 2 (12-25) | The Boilermakers rebounded hitting a game-best .391. The visitors opened outscoring the Scarlet Knights 10-3 and closed out the set on a 12-2 run.
• Set 3 (20-25) | Purdue appeared to continue its momentum with the first five points of the third frame and going out to a seven-point 16-9 edge. Rutgers, however, battled back with seven unanswered points to knot the score including a pair of kills from Kojadinovic and a pair of blocks from the hands of Tina Grkovic. A Kamila Cieslik swing saw the score tied at 19-19 when Purdue scored five straight and ended the stanza on a 6-1 run.
• Set 4 (20-25) | The Scarlet Knights jumped out to a 10-4 edge but the Boilermakers were able to produce a 7-0 burst shortly after to take over the lead. The run put Purdue up 15-13 with the Boilermakers extending its advantage to as many as seven. RU did not go down without a fight forcing five match point opportunities before the Boilermakers prevailed.

HIGHLIGHTS

 

KNIGHT NOTES

• Inna Balyko has produced her ninth double-double of the season and her 33^rd double-figure assist and dig outing of her career.
• Beka Kojadinovic collected career double-double number 21 of her career and her seventh of the fall 2021 season.
• Tina Grkovic's 11 kills were a season-high surpassing her previous high of 10 set against Lafayette back on Sept. 14. She was one kill away from tying her career-high set at Iowa last season.

UP NEXT

• The Scarlet Knights closed out the road portion of its 2021 fall schedule the next two weekends. 
• Rutgers will travel to Michigan State on Friday, Nov. 12 and Michigan on Saturday, Nov. 13 and then to Minnesota on Friday, Nov. 19 and Nebraska on Saturday, Nov. 20.

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