PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers volleyball and No. 24 Ohio State played to 21 ties across four sets with the Scarlet Knights and Buckeyes tied at 24-24 in set two and RU prevailing in the third set. It was, however, the Buckeyes with the 3-1 victory on Friday night at Jersey Mike's Arena – 25-21, 26-24, 18-25, 25-14.

Rutgers was playing the first of back-to-back top 25 opponents this weekend as they dropped to 8-7 overall. Ohio State, meanwhile, gave up only its second set to a non-ranked opponent as they improved to 6-8 overall and 3-2 in league play.

• Sophomore Taylor Humphrey put away a season-high 13 kills with redshirt sophomore Rikki Williams and senior Kristina Grkovic adding nine each.
• Williams, along with redshirt sophomore Alissa Kinkela, led the defense with seven blocks each. For Kinkela, it was a new career high.
• Senior Madyson Chitty collected 20 digs in her second 20+ dig effort of the season.
• Fifth-year senior Alyssa Nayar was just one dig shy of a double-double posting 37 assists to go along with her nine digs.

• Set 1 (25-21) | Score was tied for a ninth time as Rikki Williams and Alissa Kinkela teamed up to put a halt to the Buckeye attack at the net. Ohio State, however, took a 7-1 run to gout out to a 17-11 advantage. The Buckeyes extended its lead to 20-14, but the Scarlet Knights halved its deficit thanks to a trio of kills by Kristina Grkovic during a 4-1 RU run. The two squads then traded points the rest of the way. Grkovic led the Knights with four kills while Williams, Taylor Humphrey and Bekah Williams each had three with OSU holding a slide edge in kills in the frame, 14-13. 

• Set 2 (24-26) |  A 7-3 run by the Scarlet Knights knotted the frame at 24-24 before the Buckeyes went out to a 2-0 lead. Early, a 5-1 run capped by an Alllissa Kinkela swing saw Rutgers take an 11-10 advantage. Ohio State came back by taking seven of the next nine points to go out in front 17-13. The Scarlet Knights responded by using a 7-4 run, including three kills from the hands of Taylor Humphrey and ace served up by Kristina Grkovic, to trail 21-20. The Buckeyes took three of the next four points holding on to a 24-21 lead. A kill by Rikki Williams, a Buckeye attack error and a long rally ending with an Anna Hartman swing at the left pin tied the stanza up at 24-24. OSU took the next two points on a kill by Emily Londot and ace from Rylee Rader. Both Williams and Taylor led RU with four kills each, while Kinkella added three blocks. 

• Set 3 (25-18) | Rutgers used a 10-3 run to establish a 15-11 advantage and take the lead for good. The Scarlet Knights grew the lead to as many as nine as one of two aces by Bekah Williams put RU in front 24-15. Alissa Kinkela led the Scarlet Knights with five kills and Kristina Grkovic collected three blocks as RU outblocked the Buckeyes in the frame. Ohio State hit just .095 in the set committing a game-high nine attack errors. 

• Set 4 (25-14) | Ohio State took a 9-5 edge to start. While a kill by Rikki Williams followed by a block by the redshirt sophomore middle with Alissa Kinkela dropped RU's deficit to a pair of points, the Buckeyes took an 8-2 run to go up 17-9 for control. The Buckeyes had their best hitting of the night connecting at a .500 clip while committing only one error on 32 attacks. Taylor Humphrey and Kristina Grkovic dropped in three kills each for the Scarlet Knights

• The Rutgers volleyball team returns to the court on Saturday, Oct. 7 at 7 p.m. to take on No. 16 Minnesota. Admission is free.