PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Redshirt junior Alissa Kinkela cracked the rally-era top 10 career aces list however Rutgers volleyball closed the first of two home weeks falling to No. 11 Purdue on Saturday night, 3-0, at Jersey Mike's Arena.

The Boilermakers took the first of two meetings with the Scarlet Knights 25-14, 25-12, 25-16.

• Redshirt junior Alissa Kinkela led the attack with eight kills and four digs while her lone ace of the game gave her 59 career points from the service line to move into 10^th on the Rutgers rally-era career leaders list. She needs five more to surpass Caitlin Saxton (2008-10) for ninth place on the list.
• Junior Lexi Visintine added seven kills and joined sophomore Kenzie Dyrstad with a team-high eight digs.
• Junior Aly Borellis finished the evening with 13 assists.
• Also on defense, freshman Natalie Robinson tallied a pair of block assists and freshman Avery Jesewitz was one dig shy of tying her season high with six.

• SET 1 (14-25) | Purdue powered to a 9-4 lead to begin Saturday's match and stayed in front. Rutgers saw some momentum outscoring the nationally ranked Boilermakers, 7-5, including an ace from Alissa Kinkela that had her crack the Rutgers rally-era career top 10. Purdue concluded the opener, however, with an 11-3 run. Kinkela and Lexi Visintine both led RU with a trio of kills.

S1 | Another record book entry for Alissa Kinkela - she's now in the top 🔟 of rally-era aces ♠️
.#GoRU ⚔️ pic.twitter.com/J70dxpm18v

— Rutgers Volleyball (@RUvball) November 2, 2024

• SET 2 (12-25) | The Boilermakers took another early advantage, opening with a 7-2 edge. Purdue extended its lead to 11-5 with RU whittling the deficit behind kills from Natalie Robinson and Anna Hartman to trail 12-8.  Purdue made another big run to end the set and went on to close hitting .538. Kinkela contributed another trio of kills.

S2 | Back Row 💣
.#GoRU pic.twitter.com/2MpE8dmR4c

— Rutgers Volleyball (@RUvball) November 2, 2024

• SET 3 (16-25) | The visitors claimed a 9-1 start and led the entire way making only one error on the attack to hit .410. RU followed the Boilermakers' opening outburst putting together a trio of points behind back-to-back swings from Kinkela and a kill from Anna Hartman during a 7-4 run to narrow the gap to 13-8. Purdue scored four unanswered pushing out to a 19-9 edge. Rutgers scored four of the next six with another two kills from Kinkela and attack by Hartman, but down the stretch it would be the two squads trading points to end the match.   

S3 | The 🔨 to the middle
.#GoRU ⚔️ pic.twitter.com/yIPmPAjJWz

— Rutgers Volleyball (@RUvball) November 3, 2024

• 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.