Volleyball Closes Season At Maryland & Ohio State

Friday, November 24

College Park, Md.

6:00 PM

Rutgers University

Maryland

Madyson Chitty on the court against Michigan State at the College Ave Gym

Photo by: Emily Henderson

Volleyball Closes Season At Maryland & Ohio State

Nov 21 | Women's Volleyball

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers concludes the 2023 season on the road meeting up with Maryland on Friday at 6 p.m. and Ohio State on Saturday at 7 p.m.

GAME DAY INFO

Venue:	Xfinity Center - College Park, Md. \| Covelli Center - Columbus, Ohio
Game Notes:	Rutgers \| Maryland \| Ohio State
Statistics:	Rutgers \| Maryland \| Ohio State
Video:	BTN +
Live Stats:	Statbroadcast.com
Social Media:	Facebook \| Twitter \| Instagram

ABOUT THE SCARLET KNIGHTS

Last week, the Scarlet Knights closed out the home portion of this year's schedule with a 3-1 setback against Northwestern in the lone meeting with the Wildcats and fell in five sets to Michigan State.
Rutgers and Maryland last met on Sept. 27 with the Terps taking a 3-1 win. The Scarlet Knights had a trio in double-figure kills as Alissa Kinkela notched her second double-double of the year with 15 kills with only two swing miscues and 10 digs. Sophomore Taylor Humphrey and freshman Kristina Grkovic each collected 12 apiece. Georgia Lee made her first career start at setter putting up 17 helpers while Alyssa Nayar posted 27 assists and was one dig shy of a double-double. Madyson Chitty came up with a match-high 17 digs.
In the first meeting with Ohio State back on Oct. 6, the Buckeyes were ranked at No. 24 and the two squads played to 21 ties across for sets in a 3-1 loss. Taylor Humphrey put away 13 kills while Rikki Williams and Alissa Kinkela led the defense with seven blocks each. For Kinkela, it was a new career high. Madyson Chitty collected 20 digs in her second 20+ dig effort of the season. Alyssa Nayar was just one dig shy of a double-double posting 37 assists to go along with her nine digs.
Redshirt sophomore right side Alissa Kinkela leads the offense with 2,96 k/s and is coming off her sixth double-double of the season with 11 kills and 10 digs in five sets against Michigan State. Kinkela also leads at the service line with 23 aces.
Senior middle Kristina Grkovic became Rutgers' rally-era season and career leader in solo blocks in RU's last outing and is adding 2.18 k/s hitting a team-best .330 along with 23 aces, which included a career-high tying five against N.C. State. Grkovic is also among the Rutgers rally-era top five in total blocks and top 10 leaders in kills, aces, and points.
Fifth-year senior Alyssa Nayar is on the set averaging 8.76 helpers per set, ranking 10th in the Big Ten, and is second on the team with 2.71 d/s. She also leads the Scarlet Knights with 11 double-doubles on the season which is currently third on the RU season leaders list. Nayar is 46 assists away from reaching the 3,000 career mark.
Senior libero Madyson Chitty is currently logging 3.58 d/s, ranking 10th in the Big Ten. She is currently fourth in all-time and rally-era career digs and needs 40 more to not only move into third but become the third Scarlet Knight to amass 1,300 or more digs in a career.

SCOUTING MARYLAND

The Terps welcome the Scarlet Knights with a 16-14 overall record and 6-12 mark in the Big Ten. Maryland has dropped five of its last six matches with a sweep of Ohio State at home back on Nov. 12.
Senior outside Sam Csire and Samantha Schnitta lead the attack with 2.74 and 2.71 kills per set respectively. Redshirt senior middle Anastasia Russ meanwhile is swinging a team-best .351. Senior Sydney Dowler sets up the attack to the tune of 8.99 a/s. Senior libero Lilly Gunter and senior setter Erin Engle have both served up 31 aces on the year.
At the net, freshman middle Eva Rohrbach leads the block with 120 total stops averaging 1.18 per set. Russ has totaled 113 rejections with 1.12 per set. Also on defense Gunter is posting 3.68 a/s.

SCOUTING OHIO STATE

Ohio State enters the week at 10-17 overall and 7-11 in the Big Ten and will host No. 14 Penn State on Friday before welcoming the Scarlet Knights.
On the attack, the Buckeyes are led by senior outside Emily Londot with 4.90 k/s with freshman Mia Tuman averaging 9.44 a/s. At the service line, freshman outside Lauren Murphy has connected for 36 aces.
Freshman middle Eloise Brandewie leads the block with 87 total stops averaging 0.86 per set. Freshman libero Kaitlyn Hoffman, meanwhile, is coming up 3.37 d/s.

RUTGERS ON THE RISE

In Caitlin Schweihofer's first season, played in the spring of 2021 due to Covid-19, the Scarlet Knights tripled its conference win total en route to capturing numerous program firsts. Among the team's first were its first-ever All-Big Ten honoree and Big Ten series sweeps. The Scarlet Knights won their first-ever Big Ten home opener, earned victories over Indiana and Michigan State for the first time in history, captured two series sweeps against Maryland and Michigan State, picked up set victories against No. 4 Nebraska and No. 10 Purdue and pushed No. 19 Ohio State to five sets and match point. RU established new team, season and match records for aces and reset program Big Ten game bests in kills, attempts, attack percentage and assists, as well as individual conference superlatives in attack percentage, assists and digs.
Returning to fall ball for the 2021 season only three and a half months after the conclusion of the Big Ten-only 2020 season, Rutgers continued to make strides going 8-3 for its best nonconference record since 2012. During the season the Scarlet Knights battled eight Top 25 teams during Big Ten play, a conference that sent eight teams to the NCAA Tournament, including the year's national champion. Rutgers captured set wins over No. 8 Purdue and No. 15 Penn State and took Illinois to five sets in front of a national audience on BTN. Inna Balyko wrapped up her career fifth all-time in assists and ninth all-time in block assists, while Kamila Cieslik became the rally era leader in matches played (132) and Beka Kojadinovic concluded her career as the rally era leader in aces.
Last season, Rutgers incorporated eight newcomers into the mix continuing to make notable strides. The Scarlet Knights opened the year at 3-0 for the first time since 1998 and battled eight Top 25 teams during Big Ten play and eight teams that advanced to the 2022 NCAA Tournament. During the nonconference schedule, four Scarlet Knights were named to All-Tournament squads. Altogether Rutgers had 11 entries among the rally-era season leaders list including Kristina Grkovic in aces, Madyson Chitty in digs, Alyssa Nayar in assists per set, and Taylor Humphrey and Alissa Kinkela in kills per set.
RU played to an 8-2 out-of-conference mark in 2023 making it the program's best nonconference record since the 2012 season. Among the nonconference highlights include a 3-1 win at Rider that gave head coach Caitlin Schweihofer her 100th career win, a 3-1 victory at Columbia with redshirt sophomore Alissa Kinkela capturing the fifth-best hitting percentage in a match in school history and senior Madyson Chitty becoming the 10th Scarlet Knight in history to reach 1,000 career digs in a five-set match with Princeton. During the Big Ten season, the Scarlet Knights earned its first-ever top 25 victory with a 3-1 win over No. 16 Minnesota with Alyssa Nayar earning Big Ten Setter of the Week. Additionally, the Scarlet Knights collected their first-ever set victory at Huff Hall against Illinois and went to five sets against the Fighting Illini for the second time in the series history at Jersey Mike's Arena. In a five-set victory at Iowa on Oct. 27, the Scarlet Knights captured its first double-figure win season since 2012.