Volleyball Readies For No. 19 Ohio State

Friday, February 26

New Brunswick, N.J.

5:00 PM (ET)

Rutgers University

Ohio State

Photo by: (Ben Solomon/Rutgers Athletics)

Feb 24 | Women's Volleyball

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. - The Rutgers volleyball team is ready for another ranked battle as the Scarlet Knights welcome No. 19 Ohio State to the College Ave Gym on Friday and Saturday. Both games are set to get underway at 5 p.m.

GAME DAY INFO

Venue:	College Ave Gym \| New Brunswick, N.J.
Game Notes:	Rutgers \| Ohio State
Statistics:	Rutgers \| Ohio State \| Big Ten
Video:	Friday - BTN Plus \| Saturday - BTN Plus
Live Stats:	Live Stats
Social Media:	Facebook \| Twitter \| Instagram

FAN INFORMATION

Due to COVID-19 safety protocols, attendance will be limited to only two parents or guardians of each Rutgers student-athlete.
Parking Link

ABOUT THE SCARLET KNIGHTS

Senior Beka Kojadinovic leads Rutgers at 2.61 k/s followed by junior Anastasiia Maksimova, who picked up a career-high tying 17 kills in last week's five-set victory at Iowa at 2.39 k/s. Meanwhile, freshman Tina Grkovic, who swung over .500 in the two-game series in Iowa City, leads the Scarlet Knights at a .301 clip and has had double-figure kills in the last three contests.
Junior Inna Balyko ranks eighth in the Big Ten in assists with 8.17 a/s and in RU's last outing collected 54 helpers marking the most by a Scarlet Knight in a Big Ten match. She is 37 assists away from moving into sixth all-time at Rutgers and 41 away from fifth all-time.
Redshirt junior Shealyn McNamara continues to lead the defense at the net with 36 total and 1.00 b/s. Earlier this year she registered nine rejections (1 solo, 8 assist) in the 3-1 victory over Indiana.
Also on the defense, freshman libero Madyson Chitty is collecting 2.64 d/s and has averaged 13.3 per game in RU's last three outings. Most recently, she collected a season-high 16 digs the last time at home against No. 4 Nebraska.

SCOUTING OHIO STATE

Ohio State entered the top 25 this week and comes to New Brunswick ranked at No. 19. The Buckeyes are 9-0 and off to their best start since 2013.
The Buckeyes are coming off a 3-2 upset of then-No. 8 Penn State along with a pair of victories on the road at Illinois.
Sophomore Jenaisya Moore leads the Ohio State attack at 2.90 k/s along with11 aces followed by freshman Rylee Rader's 2.04 k/s.
Sophomore Mac Podraza, this week's Big Ten setter of the week, is adding 10.08 a/s and ranks fifth in the conference. She averaged 9.21 a/s and totaled 129 helpers in the three games last week.
Defensively, sophomore Kylie Murr is fifth in the league at 4.08 d/s, while Lauren Witte checks in seventh in the Big Ten with 1.26 b/s.

NOTES FROM THE IOWA SERIES

Rutgers fell in four sets in the opening match of the series at Iowa on Friday, but rebounded the following day for a five-set victory over the Hawkeyes.
The win tied the Scarlet Knights' highest Big Ten win total in a season 10 games into the year.
In Saturday's five-set win, RU hit .331 on the mark resetting a Big Ten best by the Scarlet Knights for the second time this season.
Maksimova, who tied her career-high with 17 kills on Saturday, averaged 3.11 k/s over the weekend with the Hawkeyes. She also hit a career-high .400 in the five-set victory with only one attack error in 40 swings.
Also on Sunday, Grkovic recorded a new-career best with 12 kills and in the last three games has averaged 2.62 k/s.
McNamara was in double-figure kills as well in game two with Iowa. It marked her first career contest with double digit kills.
Balyko's 54 assists were the most by a Scarlet Knight in a Big Ten contest. She replaces her own record of 52 recorded in last year's five-set win over Northwestern. The junior setter currently has 2,231 career assists.

UP NEXT

The Scarlet Knights are back at the College Ave Gym next weekend to host Michigan, a squad receiving votes in the AVCA Poll on Friday, Mar. 5 and Saturday, Mar. 6. Both games are slated to serve up action at 4 p.m. Due to COVID-19 safety protocols as of March 1, fan attendance be limited to the four tickets allotted to each coach and student-athlete for family members only.

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