PISCATAWAY, N.J. – For the first time in Rutgers volleyball history, the Scarlet Knights have a top-25 victory. The Scarlet Knights defeated No. 16 Minnesota, 3-1, at Jersey Mike's Arena on Saturday night.

RU powered to a 2-0 lead behind 25-20 and 25-22 set victories. While the Golden Gophers came back to claim the third set, 25-14, the Scarlet Knights dominated the fourth and final set 25-14 to collect its first Big Ten victory of the season.

The Scarlet Knights, who were facing their second-straight top 25 foes on back-to-back nights and fourth over the last six games, improved to 9-7 overall snapping a four-game skid. The Golden Gophers dropped its second-straight contest to drop to 6-8 overall and 2-4 in league play.
 

• A trio of Scarlet Knights ended the night with double-figure kills. Redshirt sophomore Alissa Kinkela was one kill shy of tying her season-high leading RU with 17 and made it her third double-double of the season with 13 digs. Freshman Anna Hartman blasted away her best of the year with 12 kills hitting .407 with only one error across 27 attempts. Redshirt sophomore Rikki Williams notched 10 kills while also leading RU with three blocks.
• Fifth-year senior Alyssa Nayar produced her sixth double-double of the year and 27th of her career behind 45 helpers and 14 digs.
• Senior Madyson Chitty claimed a match-high 17 digs.
• Rutgers held a 55-50 edge in kills, held a 5-4 advantage in aces, while defensively led 66-57 in digs. 

• Set 1 (25-20) | Rutgers made it back-to-back nights with a top 25 set victory taking the opening frame leading from start to finish and leading by as many as six. The visitors used their blocking prowess to pull within a pair of points at 10-8, but that would be as close as the Golden Gophers would get all frame. Minnesota errors gave RU its largest margin of the opener at 23-17 and 24-18. Anna Hartman and Kristina Grkovic put away four kills each.  

• Set 2 (25-22) | For the first time since joining the Big Ten, the Scarlet Knights went up 2-0 on a top 25 Big Ten opponent. Anna Hartmann collected her first double-figure kill match and upped her total on the night to 10 kills on 17 swings ending the frame hitting at a .588 clip. She collected six points on seven swings in the frame. After Minnesota took a 10-8 lead, Rutgers responded with a 7-3 run capped by an Alyssa Nayar kill prompting the Gophers to call time down 18-12. Minnesota came out of the huddle for the next four points, but the two squads would trade a pair of points the rest of the way until a kill from Rikki Williams gave the Scarlet Knights set point.

• Set 3 (16-25) | The Scarlet Knights were unable to overcome the Gophers .516 hitting percentage. Minnesota put away 17 kills on 31 swings with only one error all frame. Rikki Williams led RU with a trio of kills.

• Set 4 (25-14) | The Golden Gophers took the first point, but from there it was all RU. The Scarlet Knights powered out to a 6-2 lead and took a 7-1 run with a pair of kills for Taylor Humphrey, an ace by Alyssa Nayar and three Minnesota errors for a 16-7 advantage. The Golden Gophers got within two twice late with Rutgers ahead at 20-18 and 22-20. Anna Hartman got Rutgers to set point with her 12th final kill of the night while Rikki Williams closed out the match to land in double-figure kills giving Rutgers its historic victory.

The Scarlet Knights rule the night ⚔️ 🔴@RUvball defeats No. 16 Minnesota at home in 4 for THEIR FIRST EVER RANKED WIN‼️#NCAAWVB pic.twitter.com/kMSfIUSo5m

— NCAA Women's Volleyball (@NCAAVolleyball) October 8, 2023

• Rutgers volleyball hits the road for its next three games. RU will visit No. 1 Wisconsin on Friday, Oct. 13, Illinois on Sunday, Oct. 15 and travel to Minnesota on Friday, Oct. 20. The Scarlet Knights will return to Jersey Mike's Arena on Sunday, Oct. 22 to meet up with Illinois.