Volleyball Travels To Ohio State & Michigan State

Friday, November 7

Piscataway, N.J.

7:00 PM

Rutgers

Michigan

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Natalie Robinson on the attack in the middle against No. 1 Nebraska

Photo by: Rhea Nall

Volleyball Travels To Ohio State & Michigan State

Oct 29 | Women's Volleyball

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers volleyball wraps up its current road swing by traveling to Columbus, Ohio, to meet up with Ohio State in the first of two meetings this season with the Buckeyes on Friday, Oct. 31 and then heads to East Lansing, Michigan, to face Michigan State on Saturday, Nov. 1. Friday's meeting with the Buckeyes will also be the final match in the Big Ten Discover Challenge.

This Week Rutgers volleyball graphic at Ohio State & Michigan State featuring Kaila Kalama Bajet

GAME DAY INFO

Venue:	Covelli Center - Columbus, Ohio \| Breslin Center - East Lansing, Mich.
Game Notes:	Rutgers \| Ohio State \| Michigan State
Statistics:	Rutgers \| Ohio State \| Michigan State \| Big Ten
Schedule:	Friday, Oct. 31 at Ohio State - 6 p.m. (ET) B1G+ \| Live Stats Saturday, Nov. 1 at Michigan State - 7 p.m. (ET) B1G+ \| Live Stats
Social Media:	Facebook \| X \| Instagram

ABOUT THE SCARLET KNIGHTS

Rutgers volleyball closes out a four-game road swing and is coming off a 3-0 loss at #18 Penn State and a five-setter setback at Iowa. Against the Nittany Lions, the Scarlet Knights nearly pulled off the first-frame upset against the defending national champions, holding a 21-18 lead, before PSU came back for the win. Against the Hawkeyes, RU went ahead with the 2-0 lead 25-20 and 26-24 wins in the first two sets, but Iowa avoided the sweep with a 25-16 third set win, forced a deciding set behind a 27-25 fourth set victory and picked up the victory, 15-9, in the fifth set.
Rutgers leads the conference in aces with 153 served up by the Knights this season and averaging 2.01 per set. Lexi Visintine continues to lead RU at the line entering the weekend at the top of the Big Ten with 36 and averaging 0.47 per set to rank 30th nationally in the category. More recently, Visintine served up four aces at Maryland back on Oct. 15, 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 third in the league in total points (345.5), fifth in total kills (289), sixth in points per set (4.55) and eighth in kills per set (3.80). Her 3.80 kills per set currently leads all Scarlet Knights in the rally-era in a season.
Lily Bolen is adding 10.00 assists per frame and is 36th nationally and fifth among Big Ten setters in the category. She has collected six double-doubles this season in matches with Marist, Liberty, LIU, Maryland and most recently in back-to-back games at No. 18 Penn State (22a, 10d) and at Iowa (44a, 12d). Bolen also surpassed the 1,000 career assist mark last Sunday at Iowa.
Zora Hardison leads RU with the stops at the net with 80 total blocks, including 23 solo stops. She is the Rutgers rally-era season leader in solo blocks, having surpassed the former record of 21 set by former teammate Kristina Grkovic in 2023 and is one solo stop shy of taking over as the RU career record holder with 43 solo rejections in her third season of action. She surpassed the 200 career total block total in early October.
Alleigh Dutton has led RU in digs in all but one match to date and averages 3.29 per set. Last Sunday at Iowa, Dutton tied her career high for a third time this year with 17 digs and also added a career-high eight helpers.

SCOUTING OHIO STATE

The Buckeyes enter the week at 3-15 overall and 0-10 in Big Ten action. OSU is coming off a pair of home losses last weekend, having fallen to Michigan in straight sets and falling 3-1 to #18 Penn State.
The attack is led by Hannah Jones at 3.60 k/s, directed by Mia Tuman at 8.32 a/s. At the line, Olivia Hasbrook has delivered a team-leading 21 aces.
On the block, the Buckeyes are led by Kaia Castle with 68 total stops, while Hasbrook is coming up with a team-leading 3.32 digs per frame.

SCOUTING MICHIGAN STATE

The Spartans will host #10 Purdue on Friday night before they welcome the Scarlet Knights on Saturday. Entering the week, Michigan State is 15-5 overall and 5-5 in Big Ten play, having come off back-to-back road losses with a 3-1 setback at Iowa and a 3-0 defeat at #1 Nebraska on Sunday.
Tayiah Holdem leads MSU at 3.68 k/s with Karolina Staniszewska adding 3.04 per frame. Malayah Long, meanwhile, is dropping in 9.95 ha/s along with a team-leading 23 aces.
Defensively, the Spartans are looking to Zuzanna Kulligat the net with her 611 stops to-date and Sarah Vellucci and Lia Schneider averaging 2.67 and 2.59 digs per frame, respectively.

STAT NOTABLE WATCH

Zora Hardison is RU's rally-era season solo blocks leader and is close to becoming the sole rally-era career leader and entering the all-time top 10 in the category. With 43 career solo blocks, she is currently in a tie with former teammate Kristina Grkovic (2020-23) as the rally-era career leader.
Hardison also has 211 total blocks and joined the rally-era career top 10 list two weeks ago against #12 Purdue. She needs 12 more to move into eighth on the list past All-Big Ten selection Alissa Kinkela (2017-21).
Lexi Visintine has served up 91 career aces and sits in fourth on the rally-era career list. She needs four more to move into third past Ronnie Komisarek (2012-15). With her four aces at Maryland back on Oct. 15, Visintine joined the rally-era season top 10 list for a second time in her career.
With 36 aces to date, Visintine needs to serve up three more to move second past her own 2024 mark of 37 and three more to pass Tracy Wright (2013) as the rally-era season record holder in aces.
On Sunday at Iowa, Lily Bolen became the seventh Scarlet Knight of the rally era to crack the 1,000 career mark. She is 71 helpers away from moving into sixth on the rally-era career leaders list past Nicole Bayer (2012-14).
Bolen is also only three assists away from joining the rally-era season top 10, seven away from moving into ninth and 71 away from placing her name eighth on the list.
Natalie Robinson also joined the rally-era career solo block list and has racked up 25 in her two seasons "On The Banks". She needs two more solo stops to move into sixth past Inna Balyko (2018-21) and six more to surpass Alex Jones (2009-12) for fifth.
Aspen Maxwell, whose 3.80 kills per set currently leads the Scarlet Knights rally-era season list, is only 4.5 points away from moving into the top 10 rally-era season points list. She needs 10 more points to jump in ninth past Alex Lassa (2012). 11.5 more points to move past Sahbria McLetchie (2018) into eighth and 22 more points to land in seventh, passing Meme Fletcher (2015).

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	L, 0-3	B1G+
Friday	Oct. 31	at Ohio State	6:00 p.m.	B1G+

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 is back home next week with the Scarlet Knights taking on Michigan at Jersey Mike's Arena on Friday, Nov. 7 Michigan and meeting up again with Ohio State on Sunday, Nov. 9 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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