Volleyball Heads To New York For Matches With Morgan State & Columbia

Friday, September 8

New York, N.Y.

3:00 PM

Rutgers University

Morgan State

Alissa Kinkela serving against Virginia the Cavalier Classic

Photo by: Keith Lucas

Volleyball Heads To New York For Matches With Morgan State & Columbia

Sep 07 | Women's Volleyball

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers volleyball is back in action in another nearby road trip heading to NYC to meet Morgan State in a neutral site contest on Friday, Sept. 8 at 3:00 p.m. and host Columbia on Saturday, Sept. 9 at 6:30 p.m.

GAME DAY INFO

Venue:	Levien Gymnasium \| New York, N.Y.
Game Notes:	Rutgers \| Morgan State \| Columbia
Statistics:	Rutgers \| Morgan State \| Columbia \| Big Ten
Video:	vs. Columbia (ESPN +)
Live Stats:	GoColumbiaLions.com
Social Media:	Facebook \| Twitter \| Instagram

ABOUT THE SCARLET KNIGHTS

Rutgers is coming off a 3-1 victory at Rider on Wednesday night as head coach Caitlin Schweihofer collected her 100th career victory. RU improved to 5-1 overall behind double-figure kills from four Scarlet Knights - senior middle Kristina Grkovic, redshirt sophomore middle Rikki Williams, and sophomore outsides Lexi Visintine and Alissa Kinkela. Fifth-year senior setter Alyssa Nayar also contributed her third double-double of the 2023 season.
Last weekend, the Scarlet Knights went 2-1 at the Summit Hospitality Group Open in Raleigh, North Carolina. The Scarlet Knights got sweeps of Winthrop and Howard and fell in a five-set thriller against host NC State.
Redshirt sophomore outside hitter Alissa Kinkela led the attack last weekend to the tune of 2.73 k/s and 1.64 b/s. The Melbourne, Australia native made a career-high six rejections in all three matches.
The Scarlet Knights averaged 3.0 blocks per set over the three-game tournament, which included 13.0 stops against Howard for the third most blocks in a three-set match of the rally era and 12.0 swats versus N.C. State.
RU also had a pair of double-doubles against NC State with sophomore outside Taylor Humphrey collecting 10 kills and 10 digs and fifth-year senior setter Alyssa Nayar registering 36 helpers and 19 digs against the Wolfpack.
Entering this week's three-match week, the Scarlet Knights are led offensively by Kinkela with 2.91 k/s and is second at the net with 0.96 b/s. Senior middle Kristina Grkovic is second on the squad at 2.22 k/s along with a team-leading 10 aces, which included a career-high tying five against N.C. State. She is currently ranked ninth in the Big Ten at the service line. The Belgrade, Serbia native also leads the block at 1.39 b/s and is among RU's rally-era career leaders in the category. She is also ninth on the block in the Big Ten.
Nayar aids the attack with 8.61 helpers per set and is second on the team with 2.91 d/s.
Senior libero Madyson Chitty is currently logging 3.96 d/s and checks in ninth in the Big Ten. The Lewis Center, Ohio native, who is fifth in the rally era in career digs, is 29 away from joining the 1,000 career dig club.
Rutgers returns nine letterwinners and welcomes six newcomers to the court for the 2023 campaign.
Eighty-four percent of last year's attack is back including Kinkella who recorded a team-leading 2.76 k/s and Humphrey, who as a rookie collected 2.54 k/s. Kinkela totaled 301 kills in 2022 marking the ninth-most by a Scarlet Knight in a rally-era season. Humphrey also had another notable record book entry as she tied for most kills in a rally-era three-set match with 18 kills against the College of Charleston.
On this year's schedule, seven opponents appear on the Preseason AVCA Poll including No. 2 Wisconsin, No. 5 Nebraska, No. 7 Minnesota, No. 8 Penn State, No. 14 Ohio State, No. 16 Purdue and RV Illinois.

SCOUTING MORGAN STATE

The Bears will meet Rutgers at 2-6 on the season after going 2-3 at last week's Towson Invitational including a 3-1 win over Dartmouth and 3-2 victory versus FDU.
The Morgan State attack is led by Makila Billingsley at 2.50 k/s with Mya Karrick helping at 3.61 a/s. Karrick has put up 10 service aces thus far with Ainara Fernandes leading the way with 11.
On defense, the Bears at led by Alyssa Sampson contributing 2.77 d/s and Jada Williams having totaled 25 total blocks.

SCOUTING COLUMBIA

The Lions enter the weekend at 0-4 with losses to Fordham, Virginia, Quinnipiac and Stony Brook. Rutgers defeated UVA in five sets, while Columbia fell in five sets. The Lions will host Manhattan on Friday and Morgan State on Saturday before taking on the Scarlet Knights.
On the stat sheet, Amanda Holsen leads the offense at 2.83 k/s with Eva Atkins and Anna Gioranidi both hitting for 2.58 k/s. Ruby van der Heide sets up the attack with 6.00 a/s.
Making the stop at the net is Soah Franklin with eight total blocks on the year while Yooni Park is averaging 3.67 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 is home at the College Ave. Gym to host Marist on Wednesday, Sept. 13 and Princeton on Friday, Sept. 15. Both matches begin at 7 p.m. Admission is free.

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