PISCATAWAY, N.J. – The Rutgers volleyball team held a 20-14 advantage in the third set against No. 15 Penn State on Sunday at Jersey Mike's Arena. The Nittany Lions however came back to take the set and the match to sweep the season series with the Scarlet Knights, 25-18, 25-16, 26-24.
 

STANDOUT STATS

• Freshman Taylor Humphrey led RU with 11 kills, eight digs and two aces. It marked her 11th double-digit kill contest of the year and the 12th time she led the Scarlet Knights in the category.
• Redshirt junior Lauren DeLo and senior Alyssa Nayar each had double-digit assists with 17 and 13 respectively.
• Graduate student Megan Vernon came up with six blocks.

KEY MOMENTS

• SET 1 (18-25) | The set was close early as one of Alissa Kinkela's four kills had RU trailing 8-6. The Nittany Lions, however, tallied six of the next seven points to extend its lead to 14-7. Rutgers used a 6-2 burst to close the gap to three at 16-13 thanks in part to an ace by Kristina Grkovic that landed the junior on the rally-era season leaders list. Humphrey added an ace to close the run as Rutgers trailed 16-13. Penn State delivered the next three points and both teams went back and forth for the visitors to hold a 23-18 advantage before closing out the set.
• SET 2 (16-25) | Rutgers trailed by only two midway thru the second set at 15-13, but Penn State went on a 6-0 run while limiting RU to only three points the rest of the way. The Scarlet Knights who hit just .071 in the opening frame rebounded for a match-best .241 attack percentage as Taylor Humphrey added four kills. Defensively, Megan Vernon collected four rejections. Vernon teamed with Humphrey at the net as Rutgers trailed by two at 15-13.
• SET 3 (24-26) | The Scarlet Knights tried to make it the third-straight contest with at least one set win and the first against a top-25 program this season but were ultimately edged by the Nittany Lions. The stanza featured 10 ties and four lead changes with Humphrey collecting another four kills and the Scarlet Knights as a squad posting eight blocks. Grkovic and Lexi Vistinine teamed up for a block to knot the score a 9-9 beginning an 11-3 run for the Scarlet Knights. Visintine capped the run with Vernon at the next to help RU to a 17-12 advantage. The Scarlet Knights led 20-14 when the Nittany Lions took a 10-3 run to take back the lead at 24-23. A PSU service error tied the set up for the final time at 24-24 and the Nittany Lions took the next two points for the victory.

KNIGHT NOTES

• The Nittany Lions marked the fifth top-25 program Rutgers has faced this season. Three of the final four remaining games on the regular season slate feature teams either ranked or receiving votes in this week's AVCA Poll.
• In the first set, Kristina Grkovic moved into the top 10 on the Rutgers rally-era season ace list serving up her 28th of the season. She is currently in a tie for 10th with Ronnie Komisarek (2015). She needs one more ace to tie former teammate Inna Balyko for eighth. Balyko collected 29 aces in both 2018 and 2021. Grkovic will need two more aces to tie former teammate Beka Kojadinovic for seventh on the list and four more to tie Tali Marmen (2019) and Hanna Curtis (201) for fifth.
• Grkovic and Vernon are both up to 90 blocks on the year. The two Scarlet Knights need two more blocks to join the rally-era total blocks list and tie Stasa Miljevic (2017) for 10th and seven more to tie Mikaela Matthew (2013) for ninth.

UP NEXT

• Rutgers volleyball is back on the road. The Scarlet Knights will face No. 5 Wisconsin on Friday, Nov. 18 at 8 p.m. (ET) and Iowa on Sunday, Nov. 13 at 3 p.m.

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