PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers volleyball opened Friday night's game with Indiana with a 25-21 victory but it was the Hoosiers coming back for 25-20, 25-18, 25-18 set wins for the match.
The win improved Indiana to 17-9 overall and 7-6 in the Big Ten. Rutgers dropped to 10-13 overall and 2-11 in league play.
- Redshirt sophomore Alissa Kinkela and sophomore Taylor Humphrey led the attack with 10 kills each.
- Fifth-year senior Alissa Nayar notched her 10th double-double of the season and 31st of her career behind 37 assists and 12 digs.
- Senior Madyson Chitty collected her 10th match of the year with 20 or more digs with a match-high 20.
- Rutgers totaled 17 blocks led by senior Kristina Grkovic with six stops. Both Grkovic and freshman Anna Hartman had two solo blocks each.
- Set 1 (25-21) | Rutgers never trailed in the opening frame as Bekah Williams served up an ace to give Rutgers a 7-2 opening prompting a Hoosier timeout. The visitors came out of the break to outscore RU 6-2 to narrow its deficit to two, but it was still Rutgers ahead at 10-8. The Scarlet Knights followed by scoring four unanswered including an ace from Kinkela to grow its lead to six. A Kinkela kill also saw RU up by six late at 22-16. Taylor Humphrey and Kristina Grkovic both collected a trio of kills. The Scarlet Knights came up with seven total blocks as Anna Hartman posted a pair of solo stops. The Hoosiers swung a match-low .122.
- Set 2 (20-25) | The Scarlet Knights outscored the Hoosiers 5-1 to knot the score at 10-10, but it would be the fifth and final time the score was even before the visitors took the lead for good. Indiana would go in front by four midway before attacks from Zora Hardison and Taylor Humphrey and a Hoosier miscue at the service line had RU trailing 18-16. Madyson Chitty put over only her fourth career kill to have Rutgers trailed 20-18, but Indiana took the 2-1 lead closing on a 5-2 run. Anna Hartman contributed five of her seven total kills in the set.
- Set 3 (18-25) | The squads were tied 11 times, but after the final tie at 16-16 the Hoosiers closed the set on a 11-2 run. Down by two at 11-9, the Scarlet Knights outscored the Hoosiers 5-1 including swings from Anna Hartman and Alissa Kinkela to take a 14-12 edge. Hartman's third kill of the set had RU up 15-13 before the Hoosiers only allowed the Scarlet Knights three more points the rest of the stanza. Taylor Humphrey knotted the score at 16 all before Indiana made its push. Kinkela finished the frame with four kills. The Hoosiers, meanwhile, swung a match-best .378.
- Set 4 (18-25) | It was another early close frame as one of Kristina Grkovic's eight kills in the match knotted the score up at 8-8. The Hoosiers, however, produced a 5-1 run to take the lead. A Zora Hardison swing and error by the Hoosiers saw RU trail 13-11 but Indiana responded scoring seven of the next eight points for a 20-12 edge en route to the win. Alissa Kinkela added four kills to her stat line.
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