Volleyball Pushes No. 19 Ohio State To Five Sets

Saturday, February 27

New Brunswick, N.J.

5:00 PM (ET)

Rutgers University

2-10,2-10Big Ten

Ohio State

11-0,11-0Big Ten

Ohio St.

Rutgers

Photo by: (Ben Solomon/Rutgers Athletics)

Volleyball Pushes No. 19 Ohio State To Five Sets

Feb 27 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. – The Rutgers volleyball team pushed undefeated No. 19 Ohio State to the brink on Saturday at the College Ave Gym forcing the contest into a fifth and deciding set where the Buckeyes earn the victory with a 16-14 final frame.

Ohio State improved to 11-0 in the 25-20, 23-25, 25-18, 22-25, 16-14 win.

STANDOUT STATS

Three Scarlet Knights collected double-doubles. Senior Beka Kojadinovic collected a team-leading and season-high16 kills to go along with 10 digs. Junior Anastasiia Makismova had 14 kills and 13 digs. Junior Inna Balyko made 44 assists to go with 10 digs.
Balyko moved up two spots on the Rutgers all-time assists leaders list to fifth place.
Both Kojadinovic and Balyko served up four aces.
Redshirt junior Shealyn McNamara was also in double-figure kills with 13 and committed just one error in her 20 attack attempts.
Altogether four Scarlet Knights were in double-digit digs led by freshman Madyson Chitty's season-high 17.
Freshman Tina Grkovic tied her season-high with six blocks.

KEY MOMENTS

Set 1 (20-25) | Balyko moved into sixth on the Rutgers' assist list with her eight first set helpers. Down by 10, the Scarlet Knights went on a 7-0 run and trailed 22-19. During the burst, Balyko was the service line for six of those points and served up a trio of aces. Emily Londot scored three of the next four points to put the Buckeyes up 1-0.
Set 2 (25-23) | Four assists into the second frame, Balyko moved up another spot on the assist leaders list into fifth. The set endured 12 ties altogether. Knotted up at 16-16, Rutgers scored six unanswered including three points from Kojadinovic on a kill and two aces. With RU leading 21-16, responded with a 6-0 run of their own to retake the lead. Ohio State was ahead 23-22 when a pair of Buckeye errors put Rutgers at set point where a Grkovic ace tied the match up at 1-1.
Set 3 (18-25) | Rutgers battled back from a 9-1 deficit and clawed its way back into the set trailing 21-19. Ohio State hit .438 in the frame and scoring the final five points to take a 2-1 edge.
Set 4 (25-22) | Shealyn McNamara started a 4-1 spurt that put Rutgers ahead 15-12. The Buckeyes, however, outscored the home team 7-3 to reclaim the lead at 19-18. A 5-1 run from the Scarlet Knights, including three points off swings from Maksimova, pushed RU back in front 23-20. The Buckeyes grabbed a pair of points to close the gap to within one, but Rutgers forced a fifth and deciding set on set point from Cansu Gunyadin.
Set 5 (14-16) | Rutgers took a 12-7 advantage, however, OSU scored five unanswered to tie the final set at 12-12. The Scarlet Knights were at match point at 14-13, but the Buckeyes responded with three-straight kills for the win.

KNIGHT NOTES

It marked the first-time Rutgers has pushed a ranked Big Ten opponent to five sets.
Balyko currently has 2,304 career assists surpassing Dannan Luca (1984-87) and Abbey Martin (2003-04) for fifth place on the all-time Rutgers assists list. She needs 1,523 more to move into fourth past Pualani Tuyay (1999-02).
Balyko and Kojadinovic each had their third double-double of the 2021 campaign while Anastasiia Maksimova recorded her first. . Balyko leads all current Scarlet Knights with 22 career double-doubles, while Kojadinovic has nine and Maksimova has six.
Rutgers' 10 aces were the second-best by the squad in a Big Ten matchup while, Kojadinovic and Balyko's four aces apiece are tied for the second-best effort from the service line in a Big Ten contest.
Kojadinovic set a new season-high with her 16 kills besting her previous high of 15 against Indiana (1/30).
Chitty set a new season mark in digs with 17 surpassing her previous best of 16 against No. 4 Nebraska.
Grkovic tied her season-high with six blocks. She also had six blocks against Indiana.