Volleyball On The Road For Penn State Series With Saturday Matchup on BTN

Friday, March 12

State College, Pa.

7:00 PM (ET)

Rutgers University

Penn State

Photo by: (Ben Solomon/Rutgers Athletics)

Volleyball On The Road For Penn State Series With Saturday Matchup on BTN

Mar 10 | Women's Volleyball

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. - The Rutgers volleyball team is back on the court this weekend for a pair of games at No. 12 Penn State. Friday's game is set for 7 p.m. streaming on Big Ten Network Plus, while Saturday's game will be serving up action in front of a nationally televised audience on the Big Ten Network at 7 p.m. with Evan Stockton and Michelle McMahon on the call.

GAME DAY INFO

Venue:	Rec Hall \| University Park, Pa.
Game Notes:	Rutgers \| Penn State
Statistics:	Rutgers \| Penn State \| Big Ten
Video/TV:	Friday - BTN Plus \| Saturday - BTN /Fox Sports App Big Ten Network Channel Finder
Live Stats:	Live Stats
Social Media:	Facebook \| Twitter \| Instagram

ABOUT THE SCARLET KNIGHTS

Senior Beka Kojadinovic continues to lead the Scarlet Knights attack at 2.70 k/s and is followed by junior Anastasiia Maksimova at 2.48 k/s. Both earned double-doubles in RU's five-set matchup with then-No. 19 Ohio State. Freshman Tina Grkovic, meanwhile, is swimming at a .382 clip.
Junior Inna Balyko ranks eighth in the Big Ten in assists with 8.35 a/s and moved up to fifth all-time at Rutgers in the category two weeks ago against the Buckeyes.
Kojadinovic and Balyko also lead Rutgers at the service line with 14 aces each. Both had four aces in the Scarlet Knights last contest at home with Ohio State.
Redshirt junior Shealyn McNamara continues to lead the defense at the net with 41 total and 0.93 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 2.75 d/s and has averaged 13.2 per game in RU's last five outings. She is coming off a career-high 17 dig performance against undefeated Ohio State.

SCOUTING PENN STATE

No. 12 Penn State split last weekend's series with then-No. 11 Purdue. The Lady Lions dropped the first match 1-3 last Friday but came back for a 3-1 victory limiting the Boilermakes to hitting .186 and using a 6-0 run to close out the win on Saturday.
Junior Jonni Parker leads the offense at 3.29 k/s with Annie Fitzpatrick serving up 11 aces this season.
Junior Gabby Blossom is fourth in the Big Ten at 10.59 a/s.
Defensively, junior Jenna Hampton is coming up with 3.50 d/s to rank 10^th in the conference.
Junior Kaitlyn Hord is third in the Big Ten in blocks having totaled 56 blocks and averaging 1.37 b/s.

NOTES FROM THE OHIO STATE SERIES

Rutgers fell to then-No. 19 Ohio State at home two weeks ago. While the Buckeyes managed the sweep in game one, the Scarlet Knights pushed game two to five sets marking the first-time Rutgers has pushed a ranked Big Ten opponent to a fifth and deciding frame.
Balyko moved up two spots on the all-time assists leaders list past Dannan Luca (1984-87) and Abbey Martin (2003-04) to fifth. She currently has 2,304 career assists and needs 1,523 more to move into fourth past Pualani Tuyay (1999-02).
Rutgers had three Scarlet Knights with double-doubles in the five set match with Ohio State. 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 against the Buckeyes in game two 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.

UP NEXT

The Scarlet Knights are back at the College Ave Gym next weekend to host No. 10 Purdue on Friday, Mar. 19 and Saturday, Mar. 20. Both games are slated to serve up action at 4 p.m. Due to COVID-19 safety protocols as of March 1, fan attendance is limited to four tickets allotted to each coach and student-athlete for family members only.

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