PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers volleyball's homestand continues this weekend as the Scarlet Knights welcome Northwestern on Friday, Oct. 10 and Illinois on Saturday, Oct. 11. Both matches serve up action beginning at 7 p.m. at Jersey Mike's Arena.  Click here to purchase tickets.
 
   

GAME DAY INFO

 

Venue:	Jersey Mike's Arena | Piscataway, N.J.
Tickets:	Purchase Tickets to Rutgers volleyball
Parking:	Free (Registration Link Available Later This Season)
Game Notes:	Rutgers | Northwestern | Illinois
Statistics:	Rutgers | Northwestern |Illinois | Big Ten
Schedule:	Friday, Oct. 10 vs. Northwestern  - 7 p.m. (ET) B1G+ | Live Stats Saturday, Oct. 11 vs. Illinois - 7 p.m. (ET) B1G+ | Live Stats
Social Media:	Facebook | X | Instagram

        
               

PROMOS

• At Friday's match with the Wildcats, all fans are encouraged to wear PINK to support Breast Cancer Awareness. First 250 fans will receive a pink Block R shirt. 
• Saturday's contest with the Fighting Illini is Youth Day. The first 200 fans will receive a Rutgers headband. The Scarlet Knights will also  be on the concourse following the match for autographs.

 

ABOUT THE SCARLET KNIGHTS

• Rutgers picked up its first Big Ten win of the season and set a school and state record in attendance. The Scarlet Knights topped the Terps last Friday in the first of two meetings with Maryland on Friday night, while 8,000 packed a sold-out Jersey Mike's Arena for not only a school record, but the largest attended volleyball match in the state of New Jersey on Saturday in a loss to No. 1 Nebraska.
• The Scarlet Knights come into the weekend at 10-6 overall and 1-3 in Big Ten play. RU concluded the nonconference portion of its schedule with a 9-3 mark with seven sweeps and a seven-match win streak, the longest since 2012.
• Enter the week, RU leads the conference in aces per set (2.15) and ranks 10th nationally, led by Lexi Visintine's 28 on the year, averaging a league-best 0.51 per set. More recently, the Scarlet Knights served up 11 in their3-0 victory over Columbia to end nonconference play with Visintine and Aspen Maxwell each serving up a trio. With 83 aces in her career, Visintine is currently tied for fifth in rally-era career aces, having cracked the top five in the 3-1 win over Maryland last Friday.
• Aspen Maxwell, who has picked up two all-tournament nods this nonconference season, including being named the Sacred Heart Invite MVP, is third in points per set (4.92), third in total points (270.5) and total kills (226) and sixth in aces per set (0.40). The right side leads RU with 4.11 kills per frame, including 3.62 per set in Big Ten action. Additionally, she is second on the squad with 41 total blocks.
• Lily Bolen is adding 10.43 assists per frame and is 17th nationally and sixth among Big Ten setters in the category. She has collected four double-doubles this season in matches with Marist, Liberty, LIU and most recently Maryland.
• Zora Hardison leads RU with the stops at the net with 62 total blocks, including 22 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.
• Alleigh Dutton has led RU in digs in all but one match to date and averages 3.31 per set.

 

SCOUTING NORTHWESTERN

• The Wildcats come to Jersey Mike's Arena sporting an 11-5 overall record and 1-3 mark in Big Ten action. Northwestern opened conference play with four straight home games. NU fell 3-1 to Indiana in its Big Ten opener but followed with a five-set victory over Oregon. Last weekend, the Wildcats dropped four-set matches with Michigan State and then-No. 10 Minnesota.
• The offense runs through Rylen Reid at 3.28 k/s and Lauren Carter setting up play with 5.85 a/s. A trio of Wildcats have served up 20 or more aces on the year, led by Reid's 23.
• On defense, the block is led by Della Simku with 51 total stops, including 12 solo rejections, while Ayah Elnday is collecting 2.28 d/s.
• Last season, Rutgers closed out Big Ten road play with a 3-1 victory over Northwestern at Welsh-Ryan Arena. After the Wildcats took the first set 25-23, the Scarlet Knights took three straight sets, 25-17, 25-23 and 25-23. RU never trailed in the second and fourth frames. Rutgers accumulated a season-high 16 blocks with Zora Hardison tying her career-high with eight stops while Natalie Robinson contributed seven.
• 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 Lexi Visintine also reached double-digit kills and was one shy of tying her career mark with 10. 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. The Scarlet Knights also racked up nine aces, the most by the squad in Big Ten play last season. Visintine had four and Alleigh Dutton punched in two from the service line.

SCOUTING ILLINOIS

• Illinois will be at Maryland Friday night before heading up to New Jersey and Jersey Mike's Arena for Saturday's matchup. 
• The Fighting Illini enter the week at 8-5 overall and 3-1 in Big Ten play and are receiving votes in this week's AVCA Top 25. Among Illinois' Big Ten wins this season was a four-set win at No. 10 Purdue on Sept. 28, the squad's highest-ranked Big Ten win since defeating #4 Purdue on the road back on Oct. 1, 2021. Illinois' lone conference loss was a straight-set loss at No. 7 Wisconsin last Thursday, but the team rebounded with a five-set win at home over Michigan State on Sunday.
• Leading the attack is Taylor deGoer at 3.68 k/s while Kenna Phelan, who was Big Ten Setter of the Week two weeks ago, adds 9.63 a/s. Phelan also leads the Illini at the service line with 16 aces.
• At the net, Ashlyn Philpot has totaled 49 blocks and is closely followed by Kayla Burbage's 46 stops. Also for the defense, Taryn Kirsch adds 3.02 d/s. 

 

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	7:00 p.m.	B1G+
Wednesday	Oct. 15	at Maryland	7:00 p.m.	BTN
Friday	Oct. 24	at 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. The junior middle is also 12 solo blocks away from joining the RU all-time career solo block top 10 list.
• Hardison also has 193 total blocks and is 13 blocks away from joining the rally-era career top 10 list.   
• Lexi Visintine has served up 83 career aces and needs seven more to move into fourth past Kamila Cieslik (2017-21) on the rally-era career list. 
• Lily Bolen has racked up 852 career helpers and is 148 assists away from her 1,000th career assist and 262 away moving into sixth on the rally-era career leaders list past Nicole Bayer (2012-14). 

STREAK STATS

• Rutgers won a stretch of seven straight, marking the longest win streak for the program since 2012. During the streak, RU captured sweeps in six of the seven contests, including four consecutive 3-0 victories, the longest streak of sweeps since 2012.
• During RU's win streak, Aspen Maxwell blasted away 4.41 k/s while hitting .361 on her 97 total kills, adding 11 aces, 1.50 d/s, and 16 total blocks, and Tara Garvey put away 68 kills to average 3.09 k/s.
• Zora Hardison was at the net for 31 stops, including 11 solo blocks, averaging 1.48 blocks per frame. She also hit .363 with 41 kills, averaging 1.95 per set.
• Natalie Robinson was also on the block for 13 blocks while contributing 1.77 k/s and swinging at a .372 clip. 
• In addition to Maxwell, Lexi Visintine and Lily Bolen were also in double-figure aces. Visintine served up 15 with Bolen amassing 13.
• Bolen averaged 10.68 assists per set, helping RU to average 14.05 kills per frame and swing .336 across the streak. She also came up with 2.23 d/s.
• Alleigh Dutton continued to be steady for the defense, picking up 3.64 d/s.

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 volleyball wraps up the season series with Maryland in College Park on Wednesday, Oct. 15, at 7 p.m. The match will air on BTN and will be RU's third game of the Discover In-Season Volleyball Challenge.
• The Scarlet Knights are back home at Jersey Mike's Arena on Sunday, Oct. 19 to host #12 Purdue on Letterwinner Day/Homecoming Weekend at 1 p.m. Click here to purchase tickets.

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