Volleyball Drops B1G Opener With No. 20 Penn State

Friday, September 24

Piscataway, N.J.

7:00 PM (ET)

Rutgers University

8-4,0-1Big Ten

Penn State

8-3,1-0Big Ten

Penn St.

Rutgers

Photo by: Rich Graessle

Volleyball Drops B1G Opener With No. 20 Penn State

Sep 24 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Penn State Box Score Photo Gallery

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – The Rutgers volleyball team had its first B1G test of the season opening the conference portion of its schedule with a 3-0 (10-25, 12-25, 20-25) loss to No. 20 Penn State in front of 1,237 at the RAC on Friday night.

The Scarlet Knights fell to 8-4 overall while the Nittany Lions upped their mark to 8-3.

STANDOUT STATS

Fifth-year senior Beka Kojadinovic led Rutgers with 10 kills with senior Inna Balyko setting up the attack 21 times.
Defensively, sophomore Madyson Chitty picked up nine digs and redshirt senior Shealyn McNamara made five blocks.

KEY MOMENTS

Set 1 (10-25) | The Nittany Lions opened with the hot-hitting hand while nine attack errors kept the Scarlet Knights from finding rhythm. Penn State swung .500 opening with the match's first five points.
Set 2 (12-25) | It was another early lead for the visitors going out to an 8-1 edge to start. Beka Kojadinovic contributed four of her team-leading 10 kills
Set 3 (20-25) | Rutgers was able to take its first lead of the night in the final frame hitting a game-best .333. After the Nittany Lions took the first three points, Cansu Gunaydin came up with two big swings and helped serve up a 5-4 Rutgers advantage. A service error from Penn State knotted the score one last time at 8-8 before the visitors went on an 11-1 run. Gunaydin, however, helped spark to Rutgers four-straight with a kill and an ace, and later set up a Kamila Cieslik kill to cut the deficit to 21-16. The two squads traded the next five points and Rutgers forced Penn State to fight for set point three times.

KNIGHT NOTES

With her 21 assists, Inna Balyko is nine assists away from becoming the fifth Scarlet Knight in history to log 3,000 career assists.

HIGHLIGHTS

PHOTO GALLERY

Gallery: (9-24-2021) Volleyball vs. No. Penn State

UP NEXT

It's another B1G test for the Scarlet Knights as Rutgers volleyball welcomes No. 2 Wisconsin on Saturday at 7 p.m.
Admission to all Rutgers volleyball games is free.
All fans must register for parking - Click here to register your vehicle.
Fans can enter with bags that are clear plastic, vinyl, or PVC and approximately 12″ x 6″ x 12″, or one-gallon clear plastic bags or similar, and small clutch bags, approximately the size of a hand, can be taken into athletic venues. Exceptions will be made for medically necessary items after proper inspection.
The game will be streamed on Big Ten Plus.

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