PISCATAWAY, N.J. – It was a back-and-forth battle Friday night at Jersey Mike's arena between Rutgers and Michigan State volleyball in a match that endured 22 ties and 12 lead changes before the Spartans emerged with a 3-1 win over the Scarlet Knights.
Michigan State took the first set 25-21, but Rutgers used the identical score in set two to tie the match up. The Spartans, however, went ahead with a 25-23 third set victory and claimed the match behind a 25-9 fourth set win.
- Rutgers had two in double-figure kills with redshirt junior Alissa Kinkela swinging away for a team-high 15 kills and freshman Avery Jesewitz collecting 11 and finishing the night swinging .305. Kinkela is now 67 kills away from reaching the 1,000 career kill mark and 46 away from becoming the rally-era career kills leader. Jesewitz, meanwhile, tied her career high for a third time this season, also coming up with 11 kills against Binghamton and Little Rock earlier this season.
- Sophomore Georgia Lee set a new career mark with 24 assists. Freshman Lily Bolen also joined with double-digit helpers, adding 15 while also coming up with 10 digs for her second double-double of the season. The freshman also served up an ace to crack the top 10 freshman ace leaders list.
- Altogether, four Scarlet Knights recorded double-figure digs with sophomore Kenzie Dyrstad and freshman Alleigh Dutton both capturing 16. Junior Lexi Visintine posted 13 digs to go along with Bolen's 10.
- On the block, freshman Natalie Robinson made four stops and moved up the rally-era season list into sixth with 104 blocks to date. She needs three more to move into the top five past Megan Vernon (2022) and nine more to move past Mikaela Matthews (2014) for fourth.
- SET 1 (21-25) | It was a back-and-forth battle to open play. The Scarlet Knights and Spartans went through nine ties and six lead changes before the visiting squad took the opening frame. RU was within a point on three occasions late. Zora Hardison served up an ace for the Scarlet Knights to trail 20-19, an Anna Hartman swing went off the block for RU to pull within 21-20 and a Spartan attack error saw Rutgers behind 22-21. Michigan State closed, however, garnered the three final points to pull in front at 1-0. Alissa Kinkela led RU with four kills.
- SET 2 (25-21) | Rutgers used a big run to take the lead in set two and tie the match up at 1-1. The Scarlet Knights rattled off seven unanswered points, including a trio of kills by Kinkela, to pull ahead at 14-18. The Spartans narrowed its deficit to two late, down 22-20 and 23-21, but back-to-back kills from Hardison sealed the win. RU hit .341 as Hardison led the squad with five kills on eight swings and Natalie Robinson put away three blocks.
- SET 3 (23-25) | It was another nine ties along with four lead changes with the score knotted at 22-22 before the Spartans took a 2-1 edge. One of Hartman's four kills in the frame gave Rutgers a 21-20 edge, but Michigan State finished outscoring RU 5-2. Kinkela added six kills to her line, including tying the match up at 14-14 and 16-16. Her final kill brought the Scarlet Knights within a point down 24-23.
- SET 4 (9-25) | It was the only frame without any ties or lead changes with the Spartans wrapping up the win in hitting a match-best .414.
- Rutgers volleyball is on the road for its next four games starting with road trips to No. 9 Purdue on Thursday, Nov. 14 and Ohio State on Saturday, Nov. 16.
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