PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers volleyball begins a four-game road trip beginning this weekend at defending national champion Penn State on Friday, Oct. 24, at Rec Hall in State College, Pennsylvania in the fourth game of the Discover Volleyball Challenge and then travels to Iowa to meet the Hawkeyes in front of the BTN cameras on Sunday, Oct. 26 at Xreme Arena in Coralville, Iowa.

The match at Iowa has been moved up to a 1 p.m. (ET) start with Chris Vosters and Anna Connelly on the call for the nationally televised contest.
   
 

GAME DAY INFO

 

Venue:	Rec Hall - State College Pa. | Xtreme Arena - Coralville, Iowa
Game Notes:	Rutgers | Penn State | Iowa
Statistics:	Rutgers | Penn State | Iowa | Big Ten
Schedule:	Friday, Oct. 24 at #18 Penn State  - 7 p.m. (ET) B1G+  | Live Stats Sunday, Oct. 26 at Iowa  - 1 p.m. (ET) BTN Channel Finder | Fox Sports App  | Live Stats
Social Media:	Facebook | X | Instagram

                    

ABOUT THE SCARLET KNIGHTS

• Rutgers hits the road after playing five of the last six matches at home with the lone road trip being a ride down 95 to Maryland. This weekend marks the first of four consecutive road contests for the Scarlet Knights. RU will also be taking on its fifth nationally-ranked opponent of the year.
• RU is coming off two competitive matches last week. The Scarlet Knights battled Maryland and #12 Purdue to 44 ties and 20 lead changes over the course of seven sets.
• Rutgers leads the conference in aces with 141 served up by the Knights this season and averaging 2.07 per set. Lexi Visintine continues to lead RU at the line entering the weekend at the top of the Big Ten with 34 and averaging 0.50 per set to rank 22nd in the category. More recently, Visintine served up four aces at Maryland last Wednesday night, tying her season high and one ace shy of tying her career high of five set in a neutral site meeting with UMBC in Norfolk, Virginia last season.
• Aspen Maxwell, who has picked up two all-tournament nods this nonconference season, including being named the Sacred Heart Invite MVP, is fourth in total points (317.0) and total kills (265) and fifth in points per set (4.66) and kills per set (3.90) in the Big Ten. Additionally, she is second on the squad with 51 total blocks, having led RU with four blocks on Sunday against #12 Purdue.
• Lily Bolen is adding 10.21 assists per frame and is 25th nationally and fifth among Big Ten setters in the category. She has collected four double-doubles this season in matches with Marist, Liberty, LIU and most recently in the first meeting versus Maryland with 42 assists and 10 digs.
• Zora Hardison leads RU with the stops at the net with 76 total blocks, including 23 solo stops. She is the Rutgers rally-era leader in solo blocks, having surpassed the former record of 21 set by former teammate Kristina Grkovic in 2023. Grkovic also holds the career record with 43 solo rejections from 2020-23, which Hardison is closing in on with 42 in her third season of action. Last weekend, Hardison totaled 10 rejections in matches with Northwestern and Illinois to surpass the 200 career block mark and on Sunday against #12 Purdue moved into the rally-era career top 10.
• Alleigh Dutton has led RU in digs in all but one match to date and averages 3.28 per set. Last Sunday with the #12 Boilermakers, Dutton collected a match-high 14.

 

SCOUTING PENN STATE

• The 2024 NCAA Champions, Penn State, welcomes the Scarlet Knights with an 11-7 overall mark and 5-3 record in conference play. Last week, the Nittany Lions were on the West Coast, where they dropped a five-set match at Washington, but rebounded with a 3-1 victory at Oregon.
• On the attack, PSU is led by Kennedy Martin with the nation's fourth-best kills per set average at 5.18, a league-second best 11.63 attacks per frame and a team-leading 25 aces. Addie Lyon, meanwhile, directs the offense with 8.81 a/s.  
• At the net, Jordan Hopp has collected 63 blocks, with a team-leading nine solo stops, with Maggie Mendelson added 57 total rejections. Additionally, Gillian Grimes leads the defense at 3.38 d/s.

 

SCOUTING IOWA

• The Hawkeyes will host Michigan State on Friday night before hosting the Scarlet Knights on BTN on Sunday afternoon. Iowa enters the week at 10-10 overall and 1-7 in league play.
• Offensively, the Hawkeyes are led Chard'e Vanzandt at 3.00 k//s and Claire Ammerall with 9.27 a/s. Vanzandt and Marquardt lead Iowa in aces, each with 16.
• On defense, Hannah Whittingstall has totaled 83 blocks to average 1.14 per set and Milana Moisio is posting 3.61 d/s , leading the conference with 274 total digs.

   

DISCOVER IN-SEASON VOLLEYBALL CHALLENGE

• The Big Ten Conference and Big Ten Network (BTN) announced the launch of a newly created In-Season Volleyball Challenge. Partnering with Discover®, the official credit card of the Big Ten Conference, the inaugural Discover In-Season Volleyball Challenge will debut during the 2025 regular season conference schedule, starting Oct. 1, encompassing all 18 Big Ten Volleyball programs.
• Select conference matches played during the month of October will count toward the Discover In-Season Volleyball Challenge. Each team will play five designated challenge matches throughout the month, with the winner determined by the highest win total across the five games.

2025 Rutgers Discover In-Season Volleyball Challenge Schedule:

Friday	Oct. 3	vs. Maryland	W, 3-1
Friday	Oct. 10	vs. Northwestern	L, 0-3
Wednesday	Oct. 15	at Maryland	L, 1-3
Friday	Oct. 24	at #18 Penn State	7:00 p.m.	B1G+
Friday	Oct. 31	at Ohio State	6:00 p.m.	B1G+

 

STAT NOTABLE WATCH

• Zora Hardison is RU's rally-era season solo blocks leader and is coming close to becoming the rally-era career leader and entering the all-time top 10 in the category. With 42 career solo blocks, she needs two more to surpass former teammate Kristina Grkovic (2020-23) as the rally-era career leader. 
• Hardison also has 207 total blocks and joined the rally-era career top 10 list last Sunday against #12 Purdue. She needs five more to move into ninth on the list past Beka Kojadinovic (2017-21).   
• Lexi Visintine has served up 89 career aces and sits in fourth on the rally-era career list. She needs six more to move into third past Ronnie Komisarek (2012-15).  With her four aces at Maryland last Wednesday night, Visintine joined the rally-era season top 10 list for a second time in her career.  With 34 aces to date, Visintine needs to serve up three more to move into third past Kamila Cieslik (2017) and four more to equal her total from last season to tie for second on the list.  Tracy Wright holds the rally-era season record with 38 back in 2013.
• Lily Bolen has racked up 977 career helpers and is 24 assists away from her 1,000th career assist and 137 away from moving into sixth on the rally-era career leaders list past Nicole Bayer (2012-14). Bolen is also 69 assists away from joining the rally-era season top 10.
• Natalie Robinson also joined the rally-era career solo block list having racked up 23 in her two seasons "On The Banks". She needs two more solo stops to move into seventh past Jasmine Stackhouse (2016-19) and four more to move into sixth past Inna Balyko (2018-21).

  

ALL TOURNAMENT NODS

• Opening weekend Aspen Maxwell was named to the Buffalo Invite All-Tournament Team after averaging 3.93 kills and adding nine blocks across 14 sets. In her RU debut, Maxwell hit .346 with 14 kills and four blocks in the victory over Marist. She followed up with 20 kills and 12 digs for her first career double-double to go along with four blocks in a five-set match with Liberty and added a career-high 21 kills with Buffalo.
• Maxwell, the following week, was named the Sacred Heart Invitational MVP after averaging 4.20 k/s with a .363 attack percentage along with seven aces, 1.60 d/s and eight blocks. In a sweep of Dartmouth to kick off the weekend, she captured a match-high 16 kills and hit .500 while also contributing two aces, two blocks and seven digs. Maxwell's 16 kills tied for the fifth most kills by a Scarlet Knight in a three-set match, while her efficiency on the attack helped RU hit .348. Additionally, her 19.0 points marked by sixth-most by an RU player in a three-set match of the rally era. Maxwell followed up with nine kills and a career-high five blocks as RU made it back-to-back sweeps in its win over host Sacred Heart. The right side ended the weekend with a match-best 17 kills, swinging .367, with a career-high four aces and eight digs as the Scarlet Knights wrapped up the weekend with a 3-1 win over NEC favorite LIU.
• Lily Bolen also made an appearance on the Sacred Heart All-Tournament Team, having averaged 9.60 a/s, 2.70 d/s and six aces. In a sweep of Dartmouth to kick off the weekend, she put up 29 helpers and narrowly missed a double-double with nine digs and helped direct the attack to hit .348. Bolen followed up with 26 assists, eight digs and a block as RU made it back-to-back sweeps in its win over host Sacred Heart. The setter ended the weekend with her third double-double of the season with 41 assists and 10 digs to go along with a block as the Scarlet Knights wrapped up the weekend with a 3-1 win over NEC favorite LIU.

 

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 firsts 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 in 2023 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.  
• Last season, a youthful Scarlet Knight squad continued to rewrite the Rutgers record book, putting up several notable career and season numbers as the Big Ten expanded to the West Coast. On the attack, Alissa Kinkela, the squad's first-ever All-Big Ten attacker from 2023 and an Australian Olympic hopeful, cracked the top 10 all-time in career kills, the second most rally-era career kills and the third most rally-era career kills per set. Following the season, Kinkela signed to play professionally in South Korea. In addition to Kinkela's mark in the record book, Rutgers put nine entries into the rally-era individual season top 10 records, with a new benchmark set for blocks in a rally-era season from rookie Natalie Robinson. Additionally, Robinson leads RU's career blocks per set category after only one season "On The Banks". At the same time, junior Lexi Visintine was just two aces shy of setting a new season standard in the category.

UP NEXT

• Rutgers remains on the road next week with its first meeting with Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio on Friday, Oct. 31 in the final game of the Discover Volleyball Challenge and will be at Michigan State on Saturday, November 1.
• The Scarlet Knights' next home games will be on Friday, Nov. 7, at Jersey Mike's Arena against Michigan and Sunday, Nov. 9, against Ohio State at the College Ave Gym. Admission is free to the College Ave Gym. Click here to purchase tickets for matches at Jersey Mike's Arena.   

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