Volleyball Welcomes No. 14 Minnesota & No. 16 USC

Friday, October 18

Piscataway, N.J.

7 p.m.

Rutgers University

Minnesota

Aly Borellis, Anna Hartman & Natalie Robinson celebrate a point against No. 9 Wisconsin at Jersey Mike's Arena

Photo by: Ariel Fox

Volleyball Welcomes No. 14 Minnesota & No. 16 USC

Oct 15 | Women's Volleyball

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers volleyball returns home to continue Big Ten play with match ups at Jersey Mike's Arena in Piscataway, N.J. The Scarlet Knights will face off against #14 Minnesota on Friday, Oct. 18 at 7 p.m., followed by a showdown with #16 USC on Sunday, Oct. 20 at 1 p.m. on Letterwinner Day.

On Sunday against the Trojans, Rutgers volleyball alumnae will be honored between sets two and three with the current members of the Scarlet Knights available for post-match autographs on the concourse.

Admission to all home games is free.

Volleyball Minnesota & USC Preview Graphic featuring Avery Jesewitz

GAME DAY INFO

Venue:	Jersey Mike's Arena \| Piscataway N.J.
Game Notes:	Rutgers \| Minnesota \| USC
Statistics:	Rutgers \| Minnesota \| USC \| Big Ten
Schedule:	Friday, Oct. 18 vs. #14 Minnesota - 7 p.m. (ET) B1G+ \| Live Stats Sunday, Oct. 20 vs. #16 USC - 1 p.m. (ET) B1G+ \| Live Stats
Social Media:	Facebook \| X \| Instagram

ABOUT RUTGERS

Rutgers made a midwest swing last weekend closing out the season series with Iowa and playing at No. 2 Nebraska in front of a sellout crowd falling in straight sets in both matches.
Against the Hawkeyes last Friday night, junior Aly Borellis collected her 21^st career double-double and third of the season with 24 helpers and 13 digs to go along with a pair of blocks. Freshman Avery Jesewitz led the offense with 10 kills while adding five digs and an ace. Redshirt junior Alissa Kinkela and sophomore Anna Hartman each had eight kills apiece. Redshirt freshman Krista Dooley led RU at the net with a trio of blocks, including a solo stop. Freshman Lily Bolen also added in nine digs for the defense.
The following day, Kinkela put away nine kills adding eight digs and a pair of blocks to her stat line against the second-ranked Cornhuskers. Borellis posted 26 assists along with a pair of blocks and an ace. Sophomore Kenzie Dyrstad returned to her home state to lead the defense with 12 digs. Freshman Natalie Robinson led the block with a trio of stops.
On the season, Kinkela leads the attack with 3.53 k/s ranking 12th among her Big Ten peers. She currently has 860 career kills and is on her way to becoming the third Scarlet Knight of the rally era to reach the 900 career kill mark.
Borellis, meanwhile, continues to direct the attack with 6.75 a/s and suprassed the 2,000 career assist mark two weeks ago.
Robinson returned to the lineup last weekend and is eighth in the conference in blocks making an average of 1.30 stops per set, currently the second-best season mark of the rally era.
Also on defense, Dyrstad tops the stat sheet with a team-leading 2.98 d/s.

B1G OPENING WEEK NEWS

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.
Alissa Kinkela was named the Big Ten Co-Player of the Week by the Big Ten Conference last week 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. 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 in 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 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. Lexi Visintine posted her second double-double of the season with 10 kills and 11 digs and it was new career high for 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

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 MINNESOTA

The Minnesota Gophers enter the weekend ranked at No. 14 in the AVCA Top 25 Poll with an 11-5 overall record and 4-2 mark in the Big Ten. Minnesota is coming off a three-set victory over both Maryland and Indiana last weekend and have won 10 of their last 12 matches.
Julia Hanson leads the Gopher offense, averaging 3.41 ki/s. Setter Melani Shaffmaster orchestrates the attack with 8.71 a/s, while Julia Hanson leads the serve tallying 18 aces this season.
Phoebe Awoleye anchors the defense with 1.47 blocks per set, totaling 85 stops so far. In the back row, Zeynep Palabiyik contributes with 3.98 d/s.
In the Golden Gophers last meeting with RU at Jersey Mike's Arena back on Oct. 7, 2023, the Scarlet Knight secured their first-ever top-25 victory in program history. Rutgers topped then-No. 16 Minnesota 3-0 behind 17 kills from Alissa Kinkela and Anna Hartman blasting away 12 kills hitting .407 with only one error across 27 attempts.

SCOUTING USC

The Trojans make their way to the East , taking on Maryland on Friday night before heading to New Jersey for the first-ever volleyball meeting between USC and Rutgers. USC is ranked at No. 16 in the latest AVCA Top 25 Poll and enters the week at 12-4 overall and 4-2 in the Big Ten coming off a five-set victory over UCLA in the Battle of LA on Sunday along with a three-set setback to No. 11 Oregon last Wednesday.
Leading the Trojan attack is Ally Batenhorst, who previously spent three seasons at Nebraska, with 3.76 k/s ranking ninth in the Big Ten. Mia Tuaniga drives the offense with 9.79 a/s, which is also ninth in the league, along with 22 aces from the service line this season.
Defensively Leah Ford enters the weekend as the league's second-best blocker at 1.59 b/s and 46 total. Gala Trubint, meanwhile, contributes 3.35 d/s anchoring the back row for the Trojans.

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.

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