FORT MYERS, Fla. – Rutgers volleyball split day one of the Homewood Suites FGCU Invitational on Saturday with the Scarlet Knights earning their first season-opening win since 2013 in a 3-0 victory (25-23, 25-16, 25-14) over USF before falling 0-3 (18-25,14-25, 21-25) to host FGCU.

Rutgers 3, USF 0
 

STANDOUT STATS

• Fifth-year seniors Kamila Cieslik and Beka Kojadinovic continued to lead the attack with nine and eight kills respectively.
• Senior Inna Balyko collected 27 assists, three aces and a pair of block assists.
• Sophomore Madyson Chitty finished with a game-high 18 digs.
• Redshirt senior Shealyn McNamara also captured two block assists.

KEY MOMENTS

• Set 1 (25-23) | USF took a 4-1 lead in what would be the closest of the three sets. The Scarlet Knights came back to tie the opening frame five times. After an ace from the Bulls tied the score for the final time at 17-17, RU took the next three points to stay in front for good. Beka Kojadinovic contributed six kills, including two down the stretch to keep Rutgers in front.
• Set 2 (25-16) | Rutgers kept the momentum up in the next set jumping out to a 10-1 edge and took its largest lead at 21-8. The Bulls were kept to a negative hitting percentage (-.098) with only five kills and committed nine errors. Kamila Cieslik led the offense with five kills.
• Set 3 (25-14) | RU led from start to finish again. Inna Balyko was the service line late in the contest for six straight points with her third ace of the run giving the Scarlet Knights its largest margin at 22-12. Sophomore starter Tina Grkovic and classmate Cansu Gunaydin, from off the bench, each added three kills.

KNIGHT NOTES

• The win marked the first season opening victory for RU since 2013 when the Scarlet Knights defeated Kent State in straight sets.
• Inna Balyko moved up to sixth in blocks during the rally era. Her two stops against the Bulls pushed her into seventh past former teammate Stasa Milijevic (2017-19). She needs 44 more to surpass Alex Jones (2009-12) for fifth.
• The game also marked the Scarlet Knight debuts of Samantha Graver, Jaden Rice, Megan Vernon, Rachel Tam, Alissa Kinkela and Cara Newell.

FGCU 3, Rutgers 0
 

STANDOUT STATS

• Senior Inna Balyko notched the first Scarlet Knight double-double of the year with 26 assists and 12 digs to go along with her three blocks.
• Senior Anastasiia Maksimova was shy of a double-double leading the offense with eight kills to go along with her 10 digs.
• Altogether, three Scarlet Knights logged double-double digs including a game-high 17 from sophomore Madyson Chitty.
• Sophomore Kristina Grkovic totaled four block assists.

KEY MOMENTS

• Set 1 (18-25) | The Eagles limited the RU attack in set one. Back-to-back points off swings from Beka Kojadinovic and Anastasiia Maksimova saw the Scarlet Knights trail 10-7, however, the hosts rattled off the next seven of eight points for an 18-8 advantage. Rutgers collected four-in-a-row to follow prompting a FGCU timeout. While the Eagles added two out of the huddle, the Scarlet Knights scored six of the next eight to trail 22-18 prompting another FGCU timeout. The Eagles closed with three consecutive kills for the win.
• Set 2 (14-25) | FGCU took a 9-4 lead to start. After calling time, the Scarlet Knights used a 3-1 run to close the gap but the Eagles continued to forge ahead hitting .440 for the set.
• Set 3 (21-25) | The Scarlet Knights had their closest margin of the night in the final frame. Rutgers opened with a 3-2 lead and three straight points by the Scarlet Knights saw the score knotted at 8-8. FGCU pushed out in front and established a 19-13 lead before the gap closed. Defense at the net by the hands of Shea McNamara, Inna Balyko and Alissa Kinkela allowed Rutgers to take a 4-0 run and trail 19-17. The Scarlet Knights still trailed by two off a McNamara kill at 21-19, but the Eagles captured four of the final six points for the victory.

KNIGHT NOTES

• Inna Balyko registered her 24th career double-double and first of 2021.

QUOTES

"We started the first match a little slow, and feeling out USF, but as the match went on, we got a little more comfortable in our passing rhythm, and we served more aggressively. I thought we did a really good job of containing our errors and were able to keep USF out of system a bunch. Our defensive effort was high as I felt our physical and mental effort was extremely high. It was kind of the opposite this evening. FGCU is a really good team and has been a perennial tournament team year after year. They're not afraid of the bigger more physical teams. They're really fast and very skilled and it's a different style of volleyball than what we see in our gym. I was trying a bunch of different lineups because it's early on in the season and trying to figure out what's the best match up. Although we started with what our lineup was last year, it's a new team, and we have to figure out what's the best for this year's squad and not just focus on the previous year's success. I think it's important to have success in preseason, but I also think it's important to have adversity during the preseason - first time we played in front of fans in a long time, not being able to switch sides -  but we have to get used to these things. Right now preseason is about improving our team so hopefully we can regroup for tomorrow." - head coach Caitlin Schweihofer

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