Volleyball Returns Home To Host No. 10 Purdue

Friday, March 19

New Brunswick, N.J.

4:00 PM (ET)

Rutgers University

Purdue

Photo by: (Ben Solomon/Rutgers Athletics)

Mar 17 | Women's Volleyball

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. - The Rutgers volleyball team returns home for another nationally-ranked Big Ten matchup welcoming No. 10 Purdue to the College Ave Gym on Friday, Mar. 19 and Saturday, Mar. 20. Both games in the series serve up action beginning at 4 p.m.

GAME DAY INFO

Venue:	College Ave Gym \| New Brunswick, N.J.
Game Notes:	Rutgers \| Purdue
Statistics:	Rutgers \| Purdue \| 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, fan attendance at the College Ave Gym is limited to four tickets allotted to each coach and student-athlete for family members only.
Parking Link

ABOUT THE SCARLET KNIGHTS

Senior Beka Kojadinovic continues to lead the Scarlet Knights attack at 2.53 k/s and is followed by junior Anastasiia Maksimova at 2.40 k/s. Both earned double-doubles the last time at home in RU's five-set matchup with then-No. 19 Ohio State.
Junior Inna Balyko ranks eighth in the Big Ten in assists with 8.16 a/s and moved up to fifth all-time at Rutgers in the category the last time at home.
In addition to leading Rutgers in kills, Kojadinovic also leads the Scarlet Knights at the service line with 16 aces. Balyko, meanwhile, has served up 14 aces. 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 43 total and 0.86 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 2.62 d/s and has posted double-digit digs in four of the last seven matches. The rookie Scarlet Knight also had a notable performance last time at the College Ave Gym having collected a career-high 17-dig performance against then-undefeated Ohio State.

SCOUTING PURDUE

The Boilermakers come to New Jersey at a 9-5 overall record having split their series with No. 10 Penn State two weeks ago. Purdue's matches with Michigan State last weekend were postponed.
Prior to suffering a 3-1 setback to the Lady Lions in the second game of the series, Purdue had won seven-straight
Senior honorable mention all-american Caitlyn Newton leads the Boilermakers on the offense ranking third in the league in both kills at 4.16 k/s and aces with 22.
Redshirt junior Hayley Bush has been responsible for setting up the attack averaging 10.27 a/s to rank fifth this week in the Big Ten stats.
Purdue has two ranked among the conference's top ten in blocks with freshman Taylor Trammell recording 1.29 b/s to rank fifth and junior third team all-american Grace Cleveland contributing 1.23 b/s to rank eighth. As a team, the Boilermakers are 20^th in blocks at 2.68 b/s.
Cleveland was named the Big Ten's Defensive Player of the Week last week after notching 14 blocks in a win over Penn State.
Trammell, meanwhile, was the Freshman of the Week assisted on 14 blocks and added eight kills without an error.
Senior Jena Otec, meanwhile, is averaging 4.20 dig/s and is fourth in the category in the Big Ten.

NOTES FROM THE PENN STATE SERIES

Rutgers returned to action after their Michigan home series was postponed to fall in a pair of road games at No. 12 Penn State last week. The Lady Lions were the fourth nationally-ranked opponent and second-straight top 25 contest for the Scarlet Knights.
Kamila Cieslik led Rutgers averaging 2.83 k/s and swinging .368 for the weekend. Her .500 hitting percentage and two aces in game two on Saturday were the best by a Scarlet Knight in a three-game set this season.
Freshman Stella Antypa collected five kills in the second match with the Lady Lions, her first points as a Scarlet Knight. Antypa hit .375 on her eight attempts in her third set appearance.

UP NEXT

The Scarlet Knights have their home-and-home series next week with Maryland. Rutgers will meet the Terps in College Park on Wednesday, Mar. 24 in front of the BTN cameras at 7 p.m. The Scarlet Knights will then host Maryland on Saturday, Mar. 27 at 4 p.m. at the College Ave Gym.

Due to COVID-19 safety protocols as of March 1, fan attendance at the College Ave Gym is limited to four tickets allotted to each coach and student-athlete for family members only.

Follow Rutgers women's volleyball on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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