Friday, November 1
Piscataway, N.J.
7 p.m.
Rutgers University
vs
Indiana
Photo by: Tyler Brooks
Volleyball Begins Four-Game Homestand With Indiana & No. 11 Purdue
Oct 29 | Women's Volleyball
PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers volleyball returns to Jersey Mike's Arena to begin a four-game homestand hosting Indiana on Friday, Nov. 1 at 7 p.m. and No. 11 Purdue on Saturday, Nov. 2 at 7 p.m.
Fans can grab $1.00 hotdogs at the concession stand on Friday night against the Hoosiers, while the Scarlet Knights will be available for autographs following Saturday's match with the nationally ranked Boilermakers.
Admission to Jersey Mike's Arena is free.
Fans can grab $1.00 hotdogs at the concession stand on Friday night against the Hoosiers, while the Scarlet Knights will be available for autographs following Saturday's match with the nationally ranked Boilermakers.
Admission to Jersey Mike's Arena is free.
| GAME DAY INFO |
| Venue: | Jersey Mikes Arena | Piscataway, N.J. |
| Game Notes: | Rutgers | Indiana | Purdue |
| Statistics: | Rutgers | Indiana | Purdue | Big Ten |
| Schedule: | Friday, Nov. 1 vs. Indiana - 7 p.m. B1G+ | Live Stats Saturday, Nov. 2 vs. No. 11 Purdue - 7 p.m. B1G+ | Live Stats |
| Social Media: | Facebook | X | Instagram |
| ABOUT RUTGERS |
- Rutgers is back home after its inaugural west coast Big Ten weekend where the Scarlet Knights took a set from a Washington squad receiving votes and nearly pulled off a first set upset at then-No. 11 Oregon.
- Against the Huskies, the Scarlet Knights tied their season high in blocks. Altogether Rutgers recorded 14.0 blocks led by 10 from Natalie Robinson and seven by Alissa Kinkela, each tying career numbers. Robinson reached double-figure blocks for the second time in her career also registering 10 blocks in the Big Ten opener versus Iowa back on Sept. 26. Kinkela also had seven blocks against then-No. 24 Ohio State back on October 6, 2023.
- Kinkela also led RU with 15 kills and added seven digs. She moved closed to the 900-career kill mark needing 13 more to reach the milestone. The Scarlet Knights totaled five aces from five different players – Kinklea, Lily Bolen, Natalie Robinson, Lexi Visintine and Kenzie Dyrstad. Junior Aly Borellis nearly missed a double-double with 19 helpers and nine digs. Dyrstad finished with double-figure digs logging 10. The Huskies, receiving votes in the AVCA Top 25 Poll, opened with a 25-16 win in the opening set before the Scarlet Knights came back for a 25-18 win in set two to tie the match. Washington took the victory behind a 25-17 set three win and 25-18 fourth set victory.
- RU held a 23-19 edge in the first set against Oregon before the Ducks made the comeback for the 3-0 win. Kinkela led RU with nine kills and heads into the week needing four more kills to join the 900 career kill club. Kinkela, along with Robinson and Hardison led the defense with a trio of blocks each. With her 10 stops at the net on the weekend, Kinkela moved into the Rutgers rally-era top 10 in career blocks. Borellis captured 15 helpers to go along with six digs.and Rutgers served up six aces, including a trio from Visintine. Dyrstad, meanwhile, posted seven digs.
- On the season, Kinkela continues to lead the attack with 3.39 k/s ranking 14th in the Big Ten. Helping out the offense is Borellis with 6.59 a/s. At the service line, Visintine and Bolen have both served up 26 aces.
- At the net, Robinson is sixth in the league averaging 1.33 b/s, which is also tops on the single-season leaders list. Altogether she has made 89 stops in her first season as a Scarlet Knights. Dyrstad also aids the defense with 2.93 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.
| SCOUTING INDIANA |
- Indiana heads into the weekend with 10-10 overall record and 3-7 mark in Big Ten play. The Hoosiers snapped a five-match losing streak last Sunday with a sweep of Northwestern, 25-22, 25-21, 25-20.
- The Indiana offense is led by Candela Alonso-Corcelles, who paces the team with 3.49 k/s and ranks 12th among her Big Ten counterparts. The offense runs through Camryn Haworth, who averages 10.00 a/s and is eighth in the category in the league. She also adds power from the service line with a team-leading 32 aces this season, placing her name sixth in conference stats.
- Defensively, Ramsey Gary controls the back row, contributing a Big Ten-leading 4.35 d/s as one of three Big Ten liberos to total over 300 digs to-date. The Hoosiers front line is anchored by Madi Sell who has totaled 60 blocks and averaged 0.87 per set.
| SCOUTING PURDUE |
- Purdue enters the weekend at No. 11 in the AVCA Top 25 Poll with a 16-5 overall record and 7-3 Big Ten mark. The Boilermakers had a four-game win streak halted last Saturday with a No. 8 Wisconsin sweep. Purdue will play at Maryland on Friday night before meeting the Scarlet Knights on Saturday.
- Purdue's offense is driven by Eva Hudson, who leads the team, is third in the Big Ten and ranks 16th nationally at 4.45 k/s. Setting up the attack is Taylor Anderson directs the offense with an average of 10.76 a/s landing third in the conference and 11th nationally in the category. Raven Colvin poses the Boilermaker threat at the service line with 2,8 aces this season ranking sixth in the league.
- At the net, Lourdes Myers leads the Big Ten with 1.59 blocks per set, totaling 121 blocks coming in sixth in the country. Ali Hornung contributes 3.89 d/s for the defense.
| 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's homestand continues next week. RU will welcome UCLA to the College Avenue Gym on Thursday, Nov. 7 at 7 p.m.. The Scarlet Knights return to Jersey Mike's Arena on Friday, Nov 8 against Michigan State on Friday, Nov. 8 at 7 p.m. Admission to both the College Ave Gym and Jersey Mike's Arena is free.
- RU -
Players Mentioned
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OH/DS
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