PISCATAWAY, N.J. – In front of its largest crowd of the season at Jersey Mike's Arena on Friday night, the Rutgers volleyball team nearly stole a set off the defending national champions.

The second set against No. 3 Wisconsin saw 16 ties and six lead changes and was tied at 24-24 down the stretch before the Badgers pulled out the victory in its 25-13, 26-24, 25-10 win over the Scarlet Knights.
 

STANDOUT STATS

• Freshman Taylor Humphrey and redshirt freshman Alissa Kinkela led RU with seven kills each while graduate student Megan Vernon swung .429 with six kills on 14 attacks.
• Redshirt junior Lauren DeLo made a team-leading nine assists with senior Alyssa Nayar adding eight helpers.
• Rutgers served up five aces for the second-straight contest with Madyson Chitty collecting two. DeLo, freshman Lexi Visintine, and Kristina Grkovic all served up points as well.
• Visintine led Rutgers in digs for the first time in her career with eight.
• At the net, Grkovic and Kinkela came up with four blocks each.

KEY MOMENTS

• SET 1 (13-25) | The Badgers had a hot start in the first frame jumping out to an 8-0 lead. Kristina Grkovic and Alissa Kinkela teamed up twice to reject Wisconsin attacks and Madyson Chitty served up one of her two aces to cut RU's deficit in half at 14-7. The Badgers, however, responded with a 9-2 run.
• SET 2 (24-26) | The second set electrified the largest Jersey Mike's crowd of the year as the two squads battled thru 16 ties and six lead changes with neither squad holding more than a two-point edge.  Wisconsin led 17-15 and from there neither team had more than a one-point advantage until set point. An Alissa Kinkela swing put RU up 23-22 but the Badgers collected the next two to reach set point. Grkovic and Lauren DeLo made a crucial rejection to keep the Scarlet Knights alive knotting the score at 24-24. Wisconsin, however, was able to close out the set on an RU miscue and stopping Taylor Humphrey from adding another kill to her stat line at the net. Humphrey ended with a team-high four kills.
• SET 3 (10-25) | Wisconsin responded with its best hitting percentage of the night swinging at a .385 mark with only one attack error. Humphrey, meanwhile, tacked on another four kills. A Grkovic ace, which moved the junior up a spot on the rally-era season list to seventh, had RU down 12-6 when the Badgers captured eight unanswered en route to the win.

KNIGHT NOTES

• Megan Vernon moved onto the rally-era season block assists top 10 joining Stasa Miljevic (2017), Lauren Cloyd (2015) and Eden Frazier (2015) in a tie for ninth with 83 block assists in 2022. She needs six more to tie Inna Balyko (2018) for eighth. Kristina Grkovic, meanwhile, is one block assist away from joining Vernon and the three other Scarlet Knights on the list at number nine.
• Vernon also moved into a tie for fifth on the rally-era season total blocks leaders list with 100 rejections. She needs one more to tie Mikaela Matthews (2016) for fourth and 12 more to tie Matthews (2014) for third.
• Grkovic's ace moved her into a tie for seventh on the rally-era season service aces list. She needs two more aces to tie Tali Marmen (2019) and Hannah Curtis (2010) for fifth, three more to tie Beka Kojadinovic (2020) for fourth and four more to move into third and a tie with Stephanie Zielinski (2011).

UP NEXT

• Rutgers volleyball plays its final home game of the 2022 season on Sunday, Nov. 20 against #9 Minnesota at 1 p.m.
• Scarlet Knight seniors Lauren DeLo, Rachel Tam and Megan Vernon will be honored in a ceremony at the conclusion of the match.
• Admission to Jersey Mike's Arena is free.
• Parking is free with registration.

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