Sunday, October 1
East Lansing, Mich.
7:00 PM
Rutgers University
at
Michigan State
Photo by: Ben Solomon
Volleyball Meets Michigan State Sunday Night On BTN
Sep 29 | Women's Volleyball
PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers volleyball hits the road to meet Michigan State on Sunday at 7 p.m. in front of the BTN cameras.
Follow Rutgers women's volleyball on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
| GAME DAY INFO |
| Venue: | Breslin Center | East Lansing, Michigan |
| Game Notes: | Rutgers | Michigan State |
| Statistics: | Rutgers | Michigan State |
| Video: | BTN (Connor Onion & Elena Shklyar) | Fox Sport App |
| Live Stats: | Statbroadcast.com |
| Social Media: | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram |
| ABOUT THE SCARLET KNIGHTS |
- Rutgers enters Sunday's BTN match-up with Michigan State at 8-5 after opening Big Ten Conference play with a pair of top 25 matches at No. 15 Penn State and against No. 19 Purdue and most recently with a four-set matchup with Maryland. RU played to an 8-2 out-of-conference mark 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 right side Alissa Kinkela capturing the fifth-best hitting percentage in a match in school history and senior libero Madyson Chitty becoming the 10th Scarlet Knight in history to reach 1,000 career digs in a five-set match with Princeton.
- Kinkela leads the offense with 3.27 k/s and a .355 hitting percentage. In her third season "On The Banks", Kinkela is currently third in the rally-era career kills per set at 2.85 behind Caitlin Saxton's 3.13 k/s (2008-10) and Sarah Schmid's 3.18 k/s (2012). In Big Ten play, she is hitting .355 with 3.27 k/s. Over the last three final nonconference matches, Kinkela hit .457 with 41 kills on 81 attacks with only four errors to average 3.42 k/s from the right pin. More recently she tied her season-high with 18 kills hitting .325 against the No. 19 Boilermakers. She collected a career-high 21 kills in her last appearance against the Spartans.
- Senior middle Kristina Grkovic is second on the squad at 2.25 k/s hitting .359 along with a team-leading 16 aces, which included a career-high tying five against N.C. State. She is currently ranked 10th in hitting percentage and ninth in aces in the Big Ten. Most recently, Grkovic was one kill shy of tying her career-high on Wednesday against Maryland hitting .667 in the four-set match. During the final week of nonconference play, Grkovic cracked the Rutgers rally-era career kills and aces top ten lists and is among RU's rally-era career leaders in blocks.
- Fifth-year senior Alyssa Nayar is on the set averaging 8.71 helpers per set, ranking ninth in the Big Ten, and is second on the team with 2.25 d/s. She also leads the Scarlet Knights with four double-doubles on the season.
- Chitty is currently logging 3.60 d/s, ranking ninth in the Big Ten. The Lewis Center, Ohio native became the 10th Scarlet Knight in history to reach the 1,000 career digs when RU closed nonconference play against Princeton and is currently eighth all-time at Rutgers.
| SCOUTING MICHIGAN STATE |
- The Spartans enter the weekend at 9-4 overall and 1-1 in Big Ten action and will play at Northwestern Friday night before hosting the Scarlet Knights. Michigan State won five straight including a sweep of Michigan in their Big Ten opener before a five-set setback at Illinois last Sunday halted the streak.
- Junior outside Tayiah Holdem leads the Spartans with 3.44 k/s with junior outside Aliyah Moore adding 3.04 k/s. On the set, MSU will look to rookie Cameron Berger and junior Julia Bishop at 7.97 a/s and 6.95 a/s respectively. At the service line, sophomore defensive specialist Jayhlin Swain has notched 21 aces.
- Defensively, fifth-year middle Amani McArthur has totaled 42 blocks averaging 1.14 per set while senior libero Nalani Iosia checks in at 4.13 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.
| UP NEXT |
- Rutgers volleyball returns to Jersey Mike's Arena for a pair of top-25 matches. The Scarlet Knights host No. 22 Ohio State on Friday, Oct. 6 and No. 13 Minnesota on Saturday, Oct. 7. Both matches begin at 7 p.m. Admission is free.
Follow Rutgers women's volleyball on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
- RU -
Players Mentioned
L/DS
/ Women's Volleyball
MB
/ Women's Volleyball
OH
/ Women's Volleyball
OH
/ Women's Volleyball
S
/ Women's VolleyballRutgers Volleyball Vs Washington Highlights
Friday, November 28
Rutgers Volleyball vs. Oregon Highlights
Thursday, November 27
Rutgers Volleyball vs. Ohio State Highlights
Monday, November 24
Rutgers Volleyball at No. 17 Indiana Highlights
Monday, November 24
