CHARLESTON, S.C. – For the first time since 1998, the Rutgers volleyball team is 3-0.
The Scarlet Knights won both Saturday's matches at the College of Charleston Classic to sweep the tournament. In the afternoon, Rutgers picked up a five-set win over last year's SoCon champions, The Citadel, (21-25-15, 25-17, 16-25, 15-13) and swept the host College of Charleston (25-22, 25-21, 25-23).
- Redshirt freshman outside hitter Alissa Kinkela was named the College of Charleston Classic Most Valuable Player. The Melbourne, Australia native totaled 46 kills, averaging 3.84 per set, hitting .310 on the weekend.
- Middle blockers Kristina Grkovic and freshman Taylor Humphrey were also named to the College of Charleston All-Tournament. Grkovic, a junior from Belgrade, Serbia, led RU with 14 blocks, averaging 1.17 per set while averaging 2.50 kills per set and swinging at a .333 clip. Humphrey, a freshman from Bryon Center, Michigan, racked up 37 kills, for 3.70 per frame along with 16 digs.
Rutgers 3, The Citadel 2
- Three Scarlet Knights finished with double-digit kills led by redshirt freshman Alissa Kinkela's 17. Freshman Taylor Humphrey added 11 as did junior Kristina Grkovic, who was just shy of a double-double with 11 kills and nine blocks.
- Graduate student Megan Vernon generated six points of 13 attempts with no errors to hit .462 in the match.
- Senior Alyssa Nayar recorded her first Scarlet Knight double-double with 42 assists and 14 digs.
- Madyson Chitty collected 20 digs to become the 14th Scarlet Knight of the rally era to surpass the 600 career dig mark. Nayar and Chitty were joined in double-figure digs by Lucy Malone with a career-high 12.
- Chitty also served up three aces on the afternoon tying her career mark for the third time.
- Altogether Rutgers out-blocked The Citadel, 12-4. In addition to Grkovic's nine rejections, freshman Sasha Stotler added four block assists to go along with her nine kills.
- Set 1 (21-25) | A Tina Grkovic swing gave Rutgers its first lead at 6-5, but the Cadets fired back with a 5-0 run. The Scarlet Knights put together four straight to trail by a point, 10-9, however, The Citadel would remain in front the rest of the way. The two squads traded a sequence of six-straight points late with Rutgers trailing 21-18 when a pair of Cadet errors saw the Scarlet Knights down by one, 21-20. The Citadel pulled through four of the last five points. Kristina Grkovic contributed four kills on six swings with one error.
- Set 2 (25-15) | Rutgers tied the score a 1-1 with a 12-3 burst to close out the set. Behind 13-12, the Scarlet Knights proceeded to rattle off eight-consecutive points, which included three aces by Madyson Chitty. RU hit a game-best .345 and committed only three errors with Taylor Humphrey leading the way with four kills. Grkovic, meanwhile, contributed a trio of blocks.
- Set 3 (25-17) | The Scarlet Knights never trailed in the third frame. Rutgers outscored the Cadets 9-2 to take its largest lead at 21-11. Grkovic added another three blocks to her stat line while leading the offense along with Alissa Kinkella with a trio of kills. The Citadel, meanwhile, posted 11 errors and hit -.139.
- Set 4 (16-25) | It was The Citadel who never trailed in the fourth stanza. Midway, the Cadets posted five unanswered points extending their advantage to 21-12. Kinkella broke out for six kills and hit .556 in the set and only one error.
- Set 5 (15-13) | The deciding set went to the Scarlet Knights who were never behind. The Citadel forced six match points but Rutgers was able to put the game away on a kill from Humphrey.
- Rutgers opened a season with back-to-back wins for the first time since 2012.
- Alissa Kinkela bettered her career-high from Friday afternoon's win over Fresno State by two swings with 17 kills.
- Taylor Humphrey registered double-figure kills in her second game as a Scarlet Knight.
- While it was Alyssa Nayar's first double-double in a Rutgers uniform, it was the setter's 17th of her career.
Rutgers 3, College of Charleston 0
- Rutgers collected its first sweep of the season.
- Freshman Taylor Humphrey broke out for 18 kills, while freshman Alissa Kinkela swung for 14.
- Redshirt junior Lauren DeLo and senior Alyssa Nayar combined for 42 of RU's 46 assists. DeLo led the way with 23 helpers while Nayar dished out 19.
- Sophomore Lucy Malone registered her first 20 dig performance of her career. Junior Madyson Chitty was also in double figures with 10.
- Graduate student Megan Vernon also helped the defense with six total blocks – a career-high three solo and three block assists.
- Set 1 (25-22) | Rutgers trailed only once in an opening set that endured 12 ties. The College of Charleston took its first lead at 21-20, but the Scarlet Knights managed to take five of the next six points. During the final burst, Alissa Kinkela put away two of her team-leading seven kills of the set while senior Alyssa Nayar ended the frame with an ace. Kinkela swung .467, while as a team Rutgers hit .341 with only two attack errors.
- Set 2 (25-21) | It was a set of runs in the second frame. Rutgers used a 12-1 run to establish a 21-15 advantage. The Cougars, however, when on a run of their own outscoring the Scarlet Knights 6-1 to pull within a point at 22-21. Taylor Humphrey came up huge in the end with a kill to stop the run and back-to-back aces to seal the win. The freshman totaled nine of her team-leading 18 kills in the set. Defensively, Megan Vernon made five total stops at the net.
- Set 3 (25-23) | The back and forth final set saw Rutgers hit a game-best .375 with Kinkela and Humphrey teaming up for 13 of RU's 19 kills. Altogether the two squads were tied 14 times, the final time at 18-18. A 6-2 run put the Scarlet Knights at match point, but the hosts did not go quietly. Three unanswered kills by the Cougars saw Rutgers holding on to a one-point edge, 24-23. Kinkela came up with the final swing to end the contest for the victory.
- Rutgers volleyball returns to action on Sept. 2-3 at the Towson Invitational in Towson, Maryland. The Scarlet Knights will meet Radford, Morgan State and host Towson.
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