Rutgers Volleyball Set For Big Ten Media Day
Jul 25 | Women's Volleyball
PISCATAWAY, N.J. --Rutgers head volleyball coach Caitlin Schweihofer, senior Lexie Visintine and junior Kenzie Dyrstad will be in attendance for the fourth annual Big Ten Volleyball Media Day on Monday, July 28 at the Big Ten Network studios in Chicago.
The trio will join host Rick Pizzo and analysts Holly McPeak and Elena Shklar live on BTN on the studio at 2:00 p.m. (ET) to discuss the upcoming 2025 season, including this year's schedule, the growth of women's athletics and a look at this year's program.
Additionally, the Scarlet Knights will meet the media at a press conference at 2:50 p.m. (ET), available for viewing on BTN +.
The Big Ten was the first collegiate conference to host an in-person preseason volleyball media event, providing yet another example of the Big Ten's commitment to elevating women's sports.
Schweihofer enters her sixth season "On The Banks" and has established the Rutgers program as a team on the rise. 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, former Scarlet Knight 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, Lexi Visintine was just two aces shy of setting a new season standard in the category. In 2023, the team was honored with its first-ever All-Big Ten attacker with second team honorees bestowed upon Kinkela, while capturing the most wins and best nonconference record since 2012, improving its set win total by 45% over the previous season and setting a school record in attendance. The Scarlet Knights collected the most kills and most digs as a program since 2012, the highest serve percentage since 2016 and the most assists since 2018. The Scarlet Knights placed 12 entries into the rally-era individual season top 10 records, 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. Rutgers improved its attendance by 50% while setting a program record of 6,757 in attendance at Jersey Mike's Arena when facing No. 1 Nebraska on Nov. 5. Additionally, Schweihofer registered her 100th career victory. The previous season, in 2022, RU went 3-0 for the first time since 1998 with four Scarlet Knights named to all-tournament squads and, by the season's end, had 11 entries on the rally-ear season leaders listing, including tying for the most kills by individual in a rally-era three set match and graduate student transfer Megan Vernon wrapping up her career second in rally-era solo blocks in only two seasons at Rutgers. The 2021 season saw RU play a majority of its home games at Jersey Mike's Arena, moving across campus to the 8,000-seat arena, and captured set wins over #8 Purdue and #15 Penn State while taking Illinois to five sets in front of a national BTN audience. Schweihofer's first season, back in the spring of 2021, set the tone for the various milestones that have helped shape the last six seasons as RU picked up its first-ever All-Big Ten honoree, first-ever home-opening Big Ten victory and first-ever Big Ten sweep while establishing new team, season and match record for aces and resetting program Big Ten game bests in kills, attempts, attack percentage and assists.
A 6-0, Houston, Texas product, Lexi Visintine enters her senior season after serving up 37 aces a year ago, marking the most aces by a Scarlet Knight since 2013 and the second most aces in a rally-ear season. The outside hitter/defensive specialist registered double-doubles against Little Rock (11k, 17d) and versus Iowa (10k, 11d) in the Big Ten opener on BTN. She led RU with five aces in a straight-set victory over UMES, the eighth most in a match and second most in a three-set match by a Scarlet Knight, and made a career-high 11 kills in while putting away nine digs during a win over VCU (Sept.12), Altogether, Visintine has appeared in 69 matches and 200 sets over the last three seasons totaling 200 kills and 301 digs.
A 5-7 libero/defensive specialist, Kenzie Dyrstad led Rutgers in digs with 309 last season, averaging 2.97 and finishing the year fifth on the Rutgers sophomore digs leaders list. She racked up 22 matches with double-figure digs, including a career-high against Iowa in the Big Ten opener with Iowa at Jersey Mike's Arena. She also set a career-high with four aces at Michigan in a five-set road thriller on BTN. As a freshman, Dyrstad was one of three Scarlet Knights selected to attend the U.S. Women's National Team Open Program, after appearing in all 30 matches and 115 sets.
Rutgers will join eight other Big Ten Conference volleyball programs (Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Penn State and Purdue) at the Big Ten Network on Monday, July 28, for the series of interview sessions and other creative content opportunities to preview the 2025 volleyball season. The remaining nine Big Ten Conference programs (Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Oregon, UCLA, USC, Washington and Wisconsin) will go through a similar schedule on the Big Ten Network on Tuesday, July 29.
Following Big Ten Volleyball Media on social media with #B1GFirstServe.
The trio will join host Rick Pizzo and analysts Holly McPeak and Elena Shklar live on BTN on the studio at 2:00 p.m. (ET) to discuss the upcoming 2025 season, including this year's schedule, the growth of women's athletics and a look at this year's program.
Additionally, the Scarlet Knights will meet the media at a press conference at 2:50 p.m. (ET), available for viewing on BTN +.
The Big Ten was the first collegiate conference to host an in-person preseason volleyball media event, providing yet another example of the Big Ten's commitment to elevating women's sports.
Schweihofer enters her sixth season "On The Banks" and has established the Rutgers program as a team on the rise. 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, former Scarlet Knight 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, Lexi Visintine was just two aces shy of setting a new season standard in the category. In 2023, the team was honored with its first-ever All-Big Ten attacker with second team honorees bestowed upon Kinkela, while capturing the most wins and best nonconference record since 2012, improving its set win total by 45% over the previous season and setting a school record in attendance. The Scarlet Knights collected the most kills and most digs as a program since 2012, the highest serve percentage since 2016 and the most assists since 2018. The Scarlet Knights placed 12 entries into the rally-era individual season top 10 records, 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. Rutgers improved its attendance by 50% while setting a program record of 6,757 in attendance at Jersey Mike's Arena when facing No. 1 Nebraska on Nov. 5. Additionally, Schweihofer registered her 100th career victory. The previous season, in 2022, RU went 3-0 for the first time since 1998 with four Scarlet Knights named to all-tournament squads and, by the season's end, had 11 entries on the rally-ear season leaders listing, including tying for the most kills by individual in a rally-era three set match and graduate student transfer Megan Vernon wrapping up her career second in rally-era solo blocks in only two seasons at Rutgers. The 2021 season saw RU play a majority of its home games at Jersey Mike's Arena, moving across campus to the 8,000-seat arena, and captured set wins over #8 Purdue and #15 Penn State while taking Illinois to five sets in front of a national BTN audience. Schweihofer's first season, back in the spring of 2021, set the tone for the various milestones that have helped shape the last six seasons as RU picked up its first-ever All-Big Ten honoree, first-ever home-opening Big Ten victory and first-ever Big Ten sweep while establishing new team, season and match record for aces and resetting program Big Ten game bests in kills, attempts, attack percentage and assists.
A 6-0, Houston, Texas product, Lexi Visintine enters her senior season after serving up 37 aces a year ago, marking the most aces by a Scarlet Knight since 2013 and the second most aces in a rally-ear season. The outside hitter/defensive specialist registered double-doubles against Little Rock (11k, 17d) and versus Iowa (10k, 11d) in the Big Ten opener on BTN. She led RU with five aces in a straight-set victory over UMES, the eighth most in a match and second most in a three-set match by a Scarlet Knight, and made a career-high 11 kills in while putting away nine digs during a win over VCU (Sept.12), Altogether, Visintine has appeared in 69 matches and 200 sets over the last three seasons totaling 200 kills and 301 digs.
A 5-7 libero/defensive specialist, Kenzie Dyrstad led Rutgers in digs with 309 last season, averaging 2.97 and finishing the year fifth on the Rutgers sophomore digs leaders list. She racked up 22 matches with double-figure digs, including a career-high against Iowa in the Big Ten opener with Iowa at Jersey Mike's Arena. She also set a career-high with four aces at Michigan in a five-set road thriller on BTN. As a freshman, Dyrstad was one of three Scarlet Knights selected to attend the U.S. Women's National Team Open Program, after appearing in all 30 matches and 115 sets.
Rutgers will join eight other Big Ten Conference volleyball programs (Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Penn State and Purdue) at the Big Ten Network on Monday, July 28, for the series of interview sessions and other creative content opportunities to preview the 2025 volleyball season. The remaining nine Big Ten Conference programs (Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Oregon, UCLA, USC, Washington and Wisconsin) will go through a similar schedule on the Big Ten Network on Tuesday, July 29.
Following Big Ten Volleyball Media on social media with #B1GFirstServe.
Follow Rutgers women's volleyball on Facebook, X and Instagram.
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