COLUMBUS, Ohio – Rutgers volleyball came close to pushing for a fourth set on Saturday night at the Covelli Center, but ultimately it was the Buckeyes getting past the Scarlet Knights in three.

Ohio State claimed a 25-19, 25-16, 26-24 victory as Rutgers' Alissa Kinkela became the rally-era career leader in points.

• Sophomore Anna Hartman swung for 11 kills for the Scarlet Knight attack with freshman Lily Bolen and sophomore Georgia Lee directing the offense with 17 and 11 assists, respectively.
• Sophomore Zora Hardison added five blocks, including two solo stops to move into the Rutgers rally-era career top 10. Hardison has made 19 solo rejections over to two seasons to climb onto the list. She needs four more to move into seventh to pass Megan Vernon (2021-22), Shealyn McNamara (2020-21) and Rachel Andreassian (2012-24).
• Also on defense, sophomore Kenzie Dyrstad came up with a team-leading nine digs.
• Redshirt junior Alissa Kinkela continued to move up career lists. With her six kills and two block assists, she became the rally-era career leader in points, surpassing the previous rally-era leader Alex Lassa (2012-15). Over the last four years, Kinkela has posted 1114.0 points.

• SET 1 (19-25) | Rutgers trailed by two off blocks from Alissa Kinkela and Zora Hardison at 9-7 and an Ohio State service error at 10-8, but the hosts gained control with five unanswered points to follow.  Anna Hartman led RU with five kills while Hardison collected a trio of blocks.

S1 | Blocking the Buckeyes 🙅
.#GoRU ⚔️ pic.twitter.com/Zk4Zk17wdU

— Rutgers Volleyball (@RUvball) November 17, 2024

• SET 2 (16-25) | The Buckeyes opened with an 8-3 lead and went on to a 15-8 advantage when the Scarlet Knights collected four straight and five of the next six to trail 17-13. The burst included a kill and ace by Hardison and Hartman's seventh kill of the night. An Alissa Kinkela swing saw RU down 20-16, but Ohio State closed out the frame with five straight.

S2 | Uncontrollable Kinkela 🇦🇺
.#GoRU ⚔️ pic.twitter.com/5JIkFGpYJY

— Rutgers Volleyball (@RUvball) November 17, 2024

• SET 3 (24-26) | The Scarlet Knights outscored the hosts 9-4 to go out to a 12-9 edge. While the Buckeyes tallied three consecutive out of the timeout that followed, Rutgers stayed in front. Back-to-back Ohio State errors prompted another timeout, this time with RU ahead 19-16.  The two squads proceeded to trade points with Avery Jesewitz getting past the Buckeye block to give RU a 23-20 lead. Ohio State, however, pulled out the next four points to regain the lead at 24-23. A Buckeye ball handling error knotted the score at 24-24 but Ohio State pulled out the win.

S3 | Buckeyes are about to call ⌚
.#GoRU ⚔️ pic.twitter.com/ysL6HrrQlK

— Rutgers Volleyball (@RUvball) November 17, 2024

• Rutgers volleyball closes out its road schedule traveling to Illinois on Friday, Nov. 22 at 5 p.m. (ET) and Northwestern on Saturday, Nov. 23 at 7 p.m. (ET).