Volleyball Hosts No. 9 Wisconsin Wedenesday On BTN, Travels To Maryland Saturday

Saturday, October 5

College Park, Md.

7 p.m.

Rutgers University

Maryland

Alleigh Dutton celebrates during Rutgers Volleyball's conference opener versus Iowa at Jersey Mike's Arena

Photo by: Ariel Fox

Volleyball Hosts No. 9 Wisconsin Wedenesday On BTN, Travels To Maryland Saturday

Oct 01 | Women's Volleyball

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Big Ten volleyball action is back "On The Banks" and on Big Ten Network this week.

Rutgers volleyball welcomes No. 9 Wisconsin at Jersey Mike's Arena on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. with Jason Knapp and Emily Ehman calling all the action on the nationally televised broadcast. Admission to all home Rutgers volleyball games is free. Fans are encouraged to wear RED to the match.

The Scarlet Knights will then begin a three-game road trip traveling to College Park, Maryland to face the Terps at the XFINITY Center Pavilion on Saturday at 7:00 p.m.

Rutgers volleyball vs Wisconsin and Maryland game week graphic featuring Zora Hardison

GAME DAY INFO

Venue:	Jersey Mikes Arena - Piscataway, N.J. \| XFINITY Center Pavilion - College Park, Md.
Game Notes:	Rutgers \| Wisconsin \| Maryland
Statistics:	Rutgers \| Wisconsin \| Maryland \| Big Ten
Schedule:	Wednesday, Oct. 2 vs. Wisconsin - 7:30 p.m. BTN \| Video (Fox Sports App) \| Live Stats Saturday, Oct. 5 vs. Maryland - 7:00 p.m. Video (Big Ten +) \| Live Stats
Social Media:	Facebook \| X \| Instagram

ABOUT THE SCARLET KNIGHTS

Rutgers hit a number of milestones in the opening week of Big Ten action with the Scarlet Knights going to five sets against both Iowa and Michigan.
Redshirt junior Alissa Kinkela was named the Big Ten Co-Player of the Week by the Big Ten Conference after pounding out 5.30 kills per set and hitting .446 along with an average 2.40 digs per set and six blocks in RU's two five-set Big Ten openers last week. Kinkela, who is the first-ever Scarlet Knight to earn Big Ten Player of the Week honors, set the program record for kills in a match and became the seventh Scarlet Knight of the rally era to reach the 800 career kill mark.Against Iowa, Kinkela set a host of Scarlet Knight records with her 29 kills. She surpassed her previous career high of 21 set against Michigan State on Nov. 23, 2022. She bested the RU Big Ten record of kills in a match, exceeding the previous mark of 25 set by Meme Fletcher versus Maryland on Oct. 21, 2015. She then collected the Rutgers rally-era record in kills in a match passing the previous record of 27 registered by Fletcher versus Long Beach State on Sept. 5, 2015. Her 29 kills also marked the second-most in a match by a player in the conference this season. Kinkela, who hit .429 against the Hawkeyes, also collected 10 digs for her second double-double of the season and ninth of her career. She also tied her season-high with four blocks. Kinkela followed that performance with another 20+ kill outing, helping Rutgers collect two set wins over Michigan for the first time in program history and the first set win in Ann Arbor since 2015. The Melbourne, Australia product surpassed the 800 career kill mark behind 24 kills and a .432 hitting percentage. She also added 14 digs, one shy of her career mark, for her third double-double of the season and 10th of her career.
Other Iowa match notables included freshman Natalie Robinson reaching the double-figure block mark for the first time in her career with 10 stops. It marked the third-most blocks by a Scarlet Knight in a Big Ten match and the most in a rally-era match. Junior Lexi Visintine posted her second double-double of the season with 10 kills and 11 digs and it was new career high for sophomore Kenzie Dyrstad in reaching 20-dig mark.
At Michigan, the Scarlet Knights took their first set in Ann Arbor since 2015 and captured two set wins over Michigan for the first time in program history. In addition to Kinkela's 24 kills, sophomore Zora Hardison collected a new career high in kills with 15 and Dyrstad served up a career-high four aces. Junior Aly Borellis produced a season-high 51 helps and her first Scarlet Knight double-double in adding 10 digs.

ACE THIS NOTE

With her five aces in the final weekend of nonconference play, Lily Bolen is up to 23 aces on the season thru 11 matches. She is four aces away from joining the RU freshman top five list. Additionally, her efforts at the service line currently have her averaging 0.66 per set ranking her 10th in the Big Ten and 20th in the country.
In the nonconference finale with UMES, RU served up 13 aces, marking the fourth most in a match and second most in a three-set match by the Scarlet Knights in the rally era. It was the most aces in a match since also serving up 13 aces against FDU on Sept. 17, 2022, and the most in a three-set match since capturing 13 aces against Buffalo on Sept. 2, 2017.
RU was led by a career-high five aces from Lexi Visintine against the Hawks, marking the eighth most in a match and second most in a three-set match by a Scarlet Knights in the rally era.

SCOUTING WISCONSIN

The Badgers enter the match with a 7-4 overall record, coming off a win against Northwestern after dropping their Big Ten opener at Minnesota in five.
On the attack, Wisconsin featured 2023 AVCA National Player of the Year Sarah Franklin, who leads the team with 4.51 k/s, leading the Big Ten and ranking 13th nationally. Franklin is supported by Devyn Robinson who contributes 2.45 k/s. Charlie Fuerbringer orchestrates the offense averaging 10.21 a/s, ranking fifth among Big Ten setters.
On defense, Lola Schumacher tops the team with 3.26 d/s. Devyn Robinson, meanwhile, anchors the front line, averaging 1.15 b/s with a total of 46 on the season.

SCOUTING MARYLAND

The Terrapins come into the match with a 9-4 overall record after a pair of five-set losses to kick off conference play with setbacks at home against Northwestern and Iowa.
Leading the attack are Samantha Schnitta with 3.34 k/s and Sam Csire who adds 2.89 k/s. Sydney Dowler directs the offense with 5.10 a/s.
Defensively, Lilly Gunter top the Terps stats with 3.43 d/s and Eva Rohrbach has posted 53 blocks averaging 1.15 per set.

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.
More success continued in 2022 as 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 while altogether Rutgers had 11 entries among the rally-era season leaders list.
Another step up the ladder occurred last year as the Scarlet Knights earned their first-ever All-Big Ten attacker, captured their first-ever top 25 victory, collected the most overall wins and best nonconference record since 2012, improved set wins by 45% over the previous season and set a school record in attendance. RU placed 12 entries into the rally-era individual season top 10 records and 13 entries into the rally-era team top 10 records while collecting the most sets played, kills, assists, assists per set, digs and solo blocks by a team in conference play since joining the Big Ten in 2014.

UP NEXT

Rutgers volleyball is on the road next week to close out the season series with Iowa on Friday, Oct. 11 and will meet #2 Nebraska on Saturday, Oct. 12.

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