WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. –  Coming off a Friday night contest with last year's national runner-up, the Rutgers volleyball team hit the road for the first time this season in Big Ten action to face No. 5 Purdue at Holloway Gymnasium on Sunday.

The Scarlet Knight and Boilermakers were in a tight battle in the first two sets, with the opening frame enduring 13 ties and five lead changes and Rutgers leading by as many as four in the second set. Purdue, however, prevailed in both sets with 25-22 and 25-13 wins and closed out the match with a 25-13 victory in the third set.
 

STANDOUT STATS

• The match saw a total of 21 lead changes and eight ties in the first two sets with Rutgers hitting above .300 in each frame.
• Freshman Taylor Humphrey led RU swinging .419 for the match with 16 kills, both bests by a Scarlet Knight thru the early Big Ten schedule.
• Five different Scarlet Knights served up aces with redshirt junior Lauren DeLo serving a pair.
• DeLo also captured assists on 33 of Rutgers' 34 kills.
• On defense, graduate student Megan Vernon posted three blocks while junior Madyson Chitty came up with eight digs.
• Chitty's eight digs against the Boilermakers moved her into eighth past Alex Lassa (2012-15) on the Rutgers rally-era career leaders list with 745 digs. She needs three more digs to move into seventh past Kallie Pence (2008-11).

KEY MOMENTS

• SET 1 (22-25) | Rutgers hit .375 in a frame that was knotted up on 13 occasions with the lead changing hands five times. Neither squad led by more than a point until Purdue put away three-straight points capped by an Eva Hudson kill for a 10-8 lead. After a Scarlet Knight service error saw RU down 15-13, Rutgers rattled off four unanswered and produced a 6-1 run. Back-to-back kills by Taylor Humphrey had the Scarlet Knights ahead 16-15 and another Humphrey swing and ace by Lauren DeLo had Rutgers up 18-16. Down the stretch there would be four more ties, the final at 22-22 on an Alissa Kinkela attack. The hosts, however, captured the next three points for the 1-0 advantage. Humphrey logged seven of her game-high 16 kills in the opening set.
• SET 2 (20-25) | The Scarlet Knights continued hot hitting swinging at a .312 clip, but the Boilermakers were also successful on the attack hitting .448. Humphrey added another seven kills to her stat line as she helped Rutgers start out with an 8-6 lead. The Scarlet Knights led by as many as four at 11-7 thanks to a service ace from Lexi Visintine, at 12-8 off a Boilermaker attack error and again at 13-9 off another Humphrey attack. Purdue came back to knot the score at 13-13 and tied the set up three more times after Rutgers pushed back with one-point advantages. A miscue at the service line allowed the Scarlet Knights to go ahead 16-15, but the Boilermakers responded by taking the next three points to stay ahead. Humphrey's kills saw Rutgers down 19-18 and 21-19 before Purdue closed out the set outscoring RU 4-1.
• SET 3 (13-15) | Purdue hit .556 in the final set. A Kinkela kill saw the set tied early at 3-3, but the Boilermakers rattled off four consecutive kills to jump out to a 7-3 lead and later extended its advantage to as many as 14. Rutgers did end the match with four of the match's final six points including aces from Kinkela and Bekah Williams.

UP NEXT

• The Rutgers volleyball team is back out on the road to meet Northwestern for the first of two meetings this season with the Wildcats. Action takes place on Friday, Oct. 7 at 7 p.m. (ET).
• The Scarlet Knights will return home to Jersey Mike's Arena on Sunday, Oct. 9 against Maryland on Alumnae Day at 1 p.m.
• Admission to all home games at Jersey Mike's Arena is free.
• Parking for all home games is free with registration.

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