Volleyball Hosts #4 Penn State and Maryland In Regular Season Finales

Wednesday, November 27

Piscataway, N.J.

7 p.m.

Rutgers University

Penn State

Alissa Kinkela on the court against No. 8 Purdue at Jersey Mike's Arena

Photo by: Ben Lerner

Volleyball Hosts #4 Penn State and Maryland In Regular Season Finales

Nov 26 | Women's Volleyball

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers volleyball closes out the 2024 season this week with No. 4 Penn State on Wednesday, Nov. 27 at 7 p.m. at Jersey Mike's Arena and Maryland on Friday, Nov. 29 at 5 p.m. at the College Ave Gym. Admission to both games is free.

On Friday against Maryland, the Scarlet Knights will celebrate "Senior Knight" honoring Alissa Kinkela and Ece Emrullah.

Volleyball preview graphic versus Penn State and Maryland featuring Alissa Kinkela and Ece Emrullah

GAME DAY INFO

Venue:	Wed. - Jersey Mike's Arena - Piscataway, N.J. \| Fri. - College Ave Gym - New Brunswick, N.J.
Game Notes:	Rutgers \| Penn State \| Maryland
Statistics:	Rutgers \| Penn State \| Maryland \| Big Ten
Schedule:	Wednesday, Nov. 27 vs. #4 Penn State - 7 p.m. Jersey Mike's Arena B1G+ \| Live Stats Friday, Nov. 29 vs. Maryland - 5 p.m. (ET) College Ave Gym B1G+ \| Live Stats
Social Media:	Facebook \| X \| Instagram

ABOUT RUTGERS

Rutgers heads into the final weekend of play coming off a 3-1 victory at Northwestern on Saturday.
The Scarlet Knights accumulated a season-high 16 blocks with sophomore Zora Hardison tying her career-high with eight stops, redshirt junior Alissa Kinkela tying her season-high with seven and freshman Natalie Robinson also contributing seven. Robinson's seven blocks moved her into a tie for second on the rally-era season list with 118 blocks this season.
Hardison not only led RU in blocks, but also led RU in kills as one of three Scarlet Knights to hit over .400 on the night. Hardison put away 12 kills swinging at a .435 clip, while junior Lexi Visintine also reached double-digit kills and was one shy of tying her career mark with 10. Freshman Avery Jesewitz was without an attack error all night with nine kills on 16 swings to hit .562 as was classmate Robinson, who posted seven kills on 16 swings to hit .438. Kinkela, who added nine kills in the win, moved into the all-time top 10 with her nine kills to up her career total to 965. Additionally, she is now 15 kills away from becoming the rally-era leader.
The Scarlet Knights also racked up nine aces, the most by the squad in Big Ten play this season. Visintine had four to move into third on the rally-era season leaders list with 35 to date. Freshman Alleigh Dutton also punched in two from the service line. Classmate Lily Bolen also moved into the rally-era season top 10 with her ace.
Bolen also came up with 26 helpers with junior Aly Borellis adding 17.
Sophomore Kenzie Dyrstad ed RU from the back row with 12 digs with Dutton shy of double figures with nine.
On the season, Kinkela continues to lead the way on the attack with 3.13 k/s looking to become the rally-era career kills leader with two games left in the season. Junior Aly Borellis is putting up 6.42 a/s in directing the offense. Visintine has put away 35 aces at the service line and is nearing become the RU rally-era season leader and is closely followed by Bolen with 30, who joined the rally-era season top 10 against the Wildcats.
On defense, Dyrstad is collecting 2.94 d/g while Robinson checks in ranking ninth in the conference with 1.26 b/s with 118 total blocks and looking to become the rally-era season leader.

MILESTONE NUMBERS TO WATCH

Alissa Kinkela is 18 kills away from becoming the rally-era career kills leader passing Alex Lassa (2012-15) and her 979 kills. Kinkela, with 307 kills on the year, also needs six more kills to move into sixth place on the rally-era season leaders list.
Natalie Robinson needs three more stops to become the rally-era blocks leader surpassing the record of 120 set by Jasmine Stackhouse set in 2018. She is also six blocks away from becoming the rally-era block assist leader and topping Jasmine Stackhouse's 110 set in 2018.
Lexi Visintine is also nearing becoming the rally-era season leader in aces. She needs four more to pass Tracy Wright's 38 set in 2013 for the top spot.
Zora Hardison needs four solo stops more to move into seventh on the rally-era seson list and pass Megan Vernon (2021-22), Shealyn McNamara (2020-21) and Rachel Andreassian (2012-24).

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 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 PENN STATE

Penn State comes to Jersey Mike's Arena ranked fourth nationally with a 27-2 overall record and 17-1 conference mark. The Nittany Lions two losses have been against Pitt and Wisconsin.
On Monday, three Nittany Lions wer selected in the 2024 Pro Volleyball Federation Draft. Camryn Hannah was first-round selection and fourth overall by the Vegas Thrill. Taylor Trammel was a third-round pick by the Indy Ignite. Jess Mruzik was selected by the Grand Rapids Rise.
PSU is led by Mruzik's 4.28 k/s and Hannah's 3.59 k/s. Mruzik is third in the Big Ten in kills per set as is Izzy Starck in assists per set, helping the offense in ranking 10th nationally at 11.00 per set. Trammel, meanwhile, is third in the country hitting at a .446 clip. At the line, Gillan Grimes has served up 32 aces.
Defensively, the Nittany Lions look to Maggie Mendelson with 117 blocks, averaging 1.17 per set, and Grimes with 3.89 d/s, ranking fourth among her conference peers.

SCOUTING MARYLAND

The Terps enter the week at 13-16 overall and 4-14 in the Big Ten.
Samantha Schnitta leads the Maryland attack with 3.37 k/s with Sydney Dowler helping along the way with 4.95 a/s. Schnitta, not only leads the league, but also leads the country with 81 aces.
At the net, Anastasia Russ has come up with 99 blocks, averaging 1.14 per set, while Lilly Gunter is averaging 3.35 d/s.

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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