RALEIGH, N.C. – Rutgers volleyball thwarted a late first-set surge, made a late second-set burst and ended the third set on an 8-1 run to sweep Howard on the final day of the Summit Hospitality Group Open on Saturday.

The Scarlet Knights got past the Bison 25-23, 27-25, 25-17 to improve to 4-1 on the season and end the weekend tournament going 2-1. Howard, meanwhile, dropped to 3-3 overall.






 
   

STANDOUT STATS

• Two Scarlet Knights finished with double-digit kills. Redshirt sophomore Alissa Kinkela led with a game-high 12, committing only one error on 23 swings, and senior Kristina Grkovic added 10. Redshirt sophomore Rikki Williams, meanwhile, hit .700 with seven kills and no errors on 10 attempts.
• Defensively, RU collected 25 total blocks for the third most in a three-set match of the rally era. Williams captured a career-high nine total blocks, while Kinkela made six rejections for the third-straight contest.
• Fifth-year senior Alyssa Nayar put up 29 assists and narrowly missed a double-double with nine digs.
• Senior Madyson Chitty also came away with nine digs in the victory.

KEY MOMENTS

• Set 1 (25-23) | Rutgers thwarted a late surge by Howard to take the opening set. A Madyson Chitty ace capped an 8-1 run by the Scarlet Knights that pushed Rutgers out to a 10-5 lead and a 7-1 run including a solo block by Rikki Williams gave RU an 18-9 advantage. One of Alissa Kinkela's team-leading four kills of the set gave the Scarlet Knights its largest lead of the frame at 23-12, but the Bison pushed back. Howard outscored Rutgers 11-1 to pull within a point at 24-23. RU ended up taking the set off a Bison attack error.

 

• Set 2 (27-25) | The second set saw Rutgers with a late surge to go up 2-0. The Bison took its late opening set momentum into set two by opening with a 6-1 margin and went on to lead by nine at 20-11. From there, the Scarlet Knights chipped away at their deficit outscoring Howard 16-5 down the stretch. The burst included four kills by Kristina Grkovic and three blocks by the duo of Alissa Kinkela and Rikki Williams. A Kinkella/Williams stop knotted the score at 23-23 and a Kinkela swing tied it all at 24-24. While Howard took a 25-24 lead, a Kinkela swing, a block by Grkovic and Alyssa Nayar followed by a Grkovic kill gave Rutgers the set. 

 

• Set 3 (25-17) | There were four early ties before a pair of Howard attack errors put the Scarlet Knights in front for good at 12-10. RU built up as much as a five-point edge at 17-12, but the Bison scored four unanswered to trail 17-16. Swings from Kristina Grkovic and Bekah Williams quickly gave the Scarlet Knights some cushion as RU ended on an 8-1 run. Lexi Visintine, Williams and Kinkela all contributed three kills each in the set.

KNIGHT NOTES

• Kristina Grkovic's 13 blocks over the weekend moved her into seventh in total blocks in the rally era with 214 rejections. She needs 37 more to best Alex Jones (2009-12) for sixth. Additionally, her 11 block assists over the three games moved Grkovic into ninth on the rally-era blocks assists leaders list. She needs five more to surpass Stasa Miljevic (2017-19) for eighth.

UP NEXT

• Rutgers volleyball returns to action on Wednesday, September 6 against Rider. Note the location of the game has changed to Alumni Gymnasium in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. Game time is still set for 7 p.m. The match will be streamed by Broncvision.

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