Tuesday, September 1
Nashville, Tenn.
5:00 PM
Rutgers
vs
Arkansas
Photo by: Dakota Moyer
Volleyball Takes On Arkansas & Vanderbilt In Allstate Big Ten/SEC Challenge
Aug 31 | Women's Volleyball
PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Allstate Big Ten/SEC Challenge Week is here as Rutgers volleyball heads to Nashville, Tennessee, to face Arkansas on Tuesday, Sept. 1 and Vanderbilt on Wednesday, Sept. 2 at Memorial Gymnasium.
The Allstate Big Ten/SEC volleyball Challenge Week will feature all 34 teams across the two conferences, competing head-to-head Sept. 1-6.
Rally-Era Career
Take a look at the climb during the Caitlin Schweihofer Era of Rutgers volleyball.
- 2025 -
Rutgers surpassed its win total from the previous season nine games into the year, fueled by a seven-match win streak, the longest for the squad since 2012. The Scarlet Knights collected sweeps in six of the seven games. Against the Red Flash, RU swung .456, marking the best hitting percentage by the Scarlet Knights in a rally-era match. In nonconference action, RU played to a 9-3 mark with seven sweeps and a 4-0 home mark. In Big Ten action, the Scarlet Knights set not only a school record for attendance, but the 8,000 to witness the Scarlet Knights take on No. 1 Nebraska at Jersey Mike's Arena marked the largest crowd to watch a volleyball match in the state of New Jersey. RU also picked up its first-ever Big Ten win over Ohio State as the sweep marked the most by the program since 2000 and the first time in either Big East or Big Ten play that the Scarlet Knights have held an opponent to under 20 in a match. At the end of the 2025 season, Rutgers had captured the best hitting percentage and most aces of any team during the rally era and had Lexi Visintine set the rally-era season record in aces, becoming only the second Scarlet Knight of the rally era with over 100 career aces. In Big Ten action, the Scarlet Knights posted the most assists and aces in a season since joining the league, with Lily Bolen averaging the most assists per set in a Big Ten season. Additional season stat notables included Visinstine with the most aces since 1988, Aspen Maxwell with the most kills per set since 2009, Natalie Robinson with the best hitting percentage since 2011, Bolen with the most assists and assists per set since 2012, and Maxwell with the most kills since 2013.
- 2024 -
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. At the same time, junior Lexi Visintine was just two aces shy of setting a new season standard in the category.
- 2023 -
More milestones continued for the Scarlet Knight program in 2023. The team was honored with its first-ever All-Big Ten attacker, captured the most wins and best nonconference record since 2012, improved its set win total by 45% over the previous season and set a school record in attendance. The Scarlet Knights collected the most kills and digs as a program since 2012, the highest serve percentage since 2016 and the most assists since 2018. Alissa Kinkela, who led the team in kills, was named Second Team All-Big Ten. 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. Senior libero Madyson Chitty finished her career fifth all-time in career digs and senior middle blocker Kristina Grkovic concluded her career fifth all-time in hitting percentage while setting the rally-era record for solo blocks in a season and career. 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, head coach Caitlin Schweihofer registered her 100th career victory.
- 2022 -
The fall of 2022 saw RU 3-0 for the first time since 1998, with four Scarlet Knights named to All-Tournament squads. By the season's end, Rutgers had 11 entries on the rally-era season leaders list, including tying the record for most kills in a rally-era three-set match and graduate student transfer Megan Vernon, who wrapped up her career ranked second in the rally era in solo blocks in only two seasons as a Scarlet Knight.
- 2021 -
The second season of the Caitlin Schweihofer era saw the Scarlet Knights move a majority of its home games to Jersey Mike's Arena (formerly known as The RAC), playing members of the nation's top conference in the 8,000-seat arena. Rutgers captured set wins over #8 Purdue and #15 Penn State and took Illinois to five sets in front of a national audience on BTN.
- SPRING 2021 -
In Caitlin Schweihofer's first season "On The Banks", played in the spring due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights established themselves as a program on the rise with numerous program and Big Ten firsts. Among the Scarlet Knights' spring 2021 accomplishments were the first-ever All-Big Ten honoree, the first-ever home-opening Big Ten victory, the first-ever Big Ten series sweep, set victories over more than one Top 10 program, along with the team's first-ever wins over Indiana and Michigan State. RU established new team, season and match records for aces, reset program Big Ten game bests in kills, attempts, attack percentage and assists and collected individual conference superlatives in attack percentage, assists and digs.
The Scarlet Knights are celebrating 50 seasons of Rutgers volleyball in 2026 and will honor all letterwinners during homecoming weekend with a letterwinner open practice and football pregame tailgate on Saturday, Oct. 4 and letterwinner pregame reception and in-match recognition prior to RU taking on Indiana in front of the BTN cameras on Sunday, Oct. 5. Click here to RSVP.
Follow Rutgers women's volleyball on Facebook, X and Instagram.
The Allstate Big Ten/SEC volleyball Challenge Week will feature all 34 teams across the two conferences, competing head-to-head Sept. 1-6.
| MATCH DAY INFO |
| Venue: | Memorial Gymnasium | Nashville, Tenn. |
| Game Notes: | Rutgers | Arkansas | Vanderbilt |
| Statistics: | Rutgers | Arkansas | Vanderbilt | Big Ten |
| Schedule: | Tuesday, Sept. 1 vs. Arkansas - 5 p.m. (ET) Video (SECN+) | Live Stats Wednesday, Sept. 2 at Vanderbilt - 8 p.m. (ET) Video (SECN+) | Live Stats |
| Social Media: | Facebook | X | Instagram |
| CHALLENGE SCHEDULE |
- Tuesday, Sept. 1
- 4:30 p.m. | Michigan State vs. LSU | Big Ten Network
- 5 p.m. | Arkansas vs. Rutgers | SECN+
- 6 p.m. | Indiana vs. Georgia | FS1
- 6:30 p.m. | Michigan vs. South Carolina | Big Ten Network
- 7 p.m. | Tennessee vs. Illinois | SEC Network
- 8 p.m. | Vanderbilt vs. Maryland | SECN+
- 8 p.m. | Texas A&M vs. Purdue | FS1
- 9 p.m. | Oregon vs. Missouri | SEC Network
- 9 p.m. | Minnesota vs. Florida | Big Ten Network
- Wednesday, Sept. 2
- 4 p.m. | Michigan State vs. South Carolina | BIG+
- 4 p.m. | Arkansas vs. Maryland | SECN+
- 5 p.m. | Texas A&M vs. Indiana | Big Ten Network
- 6 p.m. | Minnesota vs. Auburn | FS1
- 6 p.m. | Ole Miss vs. Ohio State
- 7 p.m. | Kentucky vs. UCLA | ESPN2
- 7 p.m. | Michigan vs. LSU | BIG+
- 7 p.m. | Purdue vs. Georgia | Big Ten Network
- 8 p.m. | Wisconsin vs. Florida | FS1
- 8 p.m. | Vanderbilt vs. Rutgers
- 9 p.m. | Texas vs. Southern California | ESPN2
- Thursday, Sept. 3
- 3 p.m. | Alabama vs. Northwestern
- 4 p.m. | Ole Miss vs. Washington
- 7 p.m. | Mississippi State vs. Iowa | SECN+
- 8 p.m. | Oklahoma vs. Ohio State | SECN+
- 8 p.m. | Wisconsin vs. Auburn
- Friday, Sept. 4
- 3 p.m. | Alabama vs. Iowa
- 3 p.m. | Oklahoma vs. Washington | SECN+
- 7 p.m. | Mississippi State vs. Northwestern | SECN+
- Sunday, Sept. 6
- 7 p.m. | Kentucky vs. Penn State | FOX
- 9 p.m. | Nebraska vs. Missouri | FOX
| ABOUT THE SCARLET KNIGHTS |
- Rutgers opened the season at 2-1 at the Bellarmine Classic over the weekend. After a five-set setback to Purdue Fort Wayne, the Scarlet Knights came back for 3-1 victories over host Bellarmine and Evansville.
- In the win over Bellarmine, RU served up 13 aces, marking the most for the team since posting 17 aces against Michigan State on April 3, 2021. Karis Willow's seven aces were the most by a Scarlet Knight in a match since Kamila Csielik served up seven against Maryland on March 27, 2021. Lily Bolen added five from the line in the victory as well.
- Willow's 11 aces, averaging 0.85 per set, on the weekend currently tops Big Ten stats. Bolen is a close second in the league with 10 and moved into eight on the Rutgers rally-era career leaders list with 79 in her three seasons "On The Banks".Entering the Allstate Big Ten/SEC Challenge, freshman Malia Romes leads the Scarlet Knight attack with 2.69 kills per set in her weekend debut, while junior middle Natalie Robinson is adding 2.08 per set and swinging at a .478 clip. In the Bellarmine Classic finale, Robinson put away a career-high 14 kills and hit .520 with only one error on 25 attempts.
- Freshman Brooke Baldwin and Lily Bolen directed the attack with 5.46 and 5.3,8 assists per set, respectively. Both narrowly missed double-doubles last weekend as Baldwin recorded 30 helpers and nine digs in her Rutgers debut versus Purdue Fort Wayne. Bolen captured 23 assists and nine digs in the win over Evansville on Saturday.
- Defensively, senior Kenzie Dyrstad is coming up with 2.91 digs per set, while junior Imani Howell has posted 11 blocks across two matches and fellow middle Robinson has eight total.
| SCOUTING ARKANSAS |
- The Razorbacks opened the 2026 campaign over the weekend at 3-0 with sweeps of SIUE and UT Arlington and a 3-1 win versus UTSA at home in the Razorback Invitational.
- Laci Bohannon leads the offense with 4.29 kills per set and hitting .404, having played in seven of Arkansas' 10 sets thus far.
- Kiki Remensperger directs the attack with 10.80 assists per set, while Gaby Cornier has put up four aces from the service line.
- A trio of Razorbacks are averaging over 2.5 digs per set, led by Parker Duncan at 2.67 per frame.
- At the net, Aleki Alexander has totaled 14 stops, while Layla Smith has collected 10 blocks.
| SCOUTING VANDERBILT |
- The Commodores swept the College of Charleston and Memphis at home to open up the season and will host Maryland on Tuesday before meeting up with the Scarlet Knights.
- Vanderbilt University reinstated its varsity women's volleyball program in the 2025 season after a 45-year hiatus.
- Reese Animashaun is putting away 3.50 kills per set followed by Samantha Wunsch at 3.20 kills per set and Maya Witherspoon 3.17 kills per set to lead the offense.
- Avery Scoggins is on the set, averaging 12.00 helpers per set.
- Hailee Mack leads the defense with 2.83 digs per set followed by Animashaun at 2.67 per frame.
- Both Scoggins and Kayla Dunlap lead the block with seven stops apiece.
| STAT NOTABLE WATCH |
Rally-Era Career
- Lily Bolen needs 295 more assists to climb to third in rally-era career assists past Anna Sudbury (2012-15). She currently has 1,421 career assists.
- Lily Bolen needs four more aces to move into seventh in rally-era career aces past Stephanie Zielinksi. She currently has 79 career aces.
- Natalie Robinson needs two more solo blocks to move into fifth, surpassing Alex Jones (2009-12). She currently has 26 career solo blocks.
- Natalie Robinson needs 11 total blocks and 12 block assists to enter the rally-era career top ten. She currently has 200 total and 174 assisted blocks in her career.
- Kenzie Dyrstad needs 201 more digs to enter the rally-era top 10. She currently has 511 career digs.
- Aspen Maxwell needs 280 points to enter the rally-era career top ten. She currently has 477.5 points in her career.
| RUTGERS ON THE RISE |
Take a look at the climb during the Caitlin Schweihofer Era of Rutgers volleyball.
- 2025 -
Rutgers surpassed its win total from the previous season nine games into the year, fueled by a seven-match win streak, the longest for the squad since 2012. The Scarlet Knights collected sweeps in six of the seven games. Against the Red Flash, RU swung .456, marking the best hitting percentage by the Scarlet Knights in a rally-era match. In nonconference action, RU played to a 9-3 mark with seven sweeps and a 4-0 home mark. In Big Ten action, the Scarlet Knights set not only a school record for attendance, but the 8,000 to witness the Scarlet Knights take on No. 1 Nebraska at Jersey Mike's Arena marked the largest crowd to watch a volleyball match in the state of New Jersey. RU also picked up its first-ever Big Ten win over Ohio State as the sweep marked the most by the program since 2000 and the first time in either Big East or Big Ten play that the Scarlet Knights have held an opponent to under 20 in a match. At the end of the 2025 season, Rutgers had captured the best hitting percentage and most aces of any team during the rally era and had Lexi Visintine set the rally-era season record in aces, becoming only the second Scarlet Knight of the rally era with over 100 career aces. In Big Ten action, the Scarlet Knights posted the most assists and aces in a season since joining the league, with Lily Bolen averaging the most assists per set in a Big Ten season. Additional season stat notables included Visinstine with the most aces since 1988, Aspen Maxwell with the most kills per set since 2009, Natalie Robinson with the best hitting percentage since 2011, Bolen with the most assists and assists per set since 2012, and Maxwell with the most kills since 2013.
- 2024 -
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. At the same time, junior Lexi Visintine was just two aces shy of setting a new season standard in the category.
- 2023 -
More milestones continued for the Scarlet Knight program in 2023. The team was honored with its first-ever All-Big Ten attacker, captured the most wins and best nonconference record since 2012, improved its set win total by 45% over the previous season and set a school record in attendance. The Scarlet Knights collected the most kills and digs as a program since 2012, the highest serve percentage since 2016 and the most assists since 2018. Alissa Kinkela, who led the team in kills, was named Second Team All-Big Ten. 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. Senior libero Madyson Chitty finished her career fifth all-time in career digs and senior middle blocker Kristina Grkovic concluded her career fifth all-time in hitting percentage while setting the rally-era record for solo blocks in a season and career. 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, head coach Caitlin Schweihofer registered her 100th career victory.
- 2022 -
The fall of 2022 saw RU 3-0 for the first time since 1998, with four Scarlet Knights named to All-Tournament squads. By the season's end, Rutgers had 11 entries on the rally-era season leaders list, including tying the record for most kills in a rally-era three-set match and graduate student transfer Megan Vernon, who wrapped up her career ranked second in the rally era in solo blocks in only two seasons as a Scarlet Knight.
- 2021 -
The second season of the Caitlin Schweihofer era saw the Scarlet Knights move a majority of its home games to Jersey Mike's Arena (formerly known as The RAC), playing members of the nation's top conference in the 8,000-seat arena. Rutgers captured set wins over #8 Purdue and #15 Penn State and took Illinois to five sets in front of a national audience on BTN.
- SPRING 2021 -
In Caitlin Schweihofer's first season "On The Banks", played in the spring due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights established themselves as a program on the rise with numerous program and Big Ten firsts. Among the Scarlet Knights' spring 2021 accomplishments were the first-ever All-Big Ten honoree, the first-ever home-opening Big Ten victory, the first-ever Big Ten series sweep, set victories over more than one Top 10 program, along with the team's first-ever wins over Indiana and Michigan State. RU established new team, season and match records for aces, reset program Big Ten game bests in kills, attempts, attack percentage and assists and collected individual conference superlatives in attack percentage, assists and digs.
| CELEBRATING 50 SEASONS |
The Scarlet Knights are celebrating 50 seasons of Rutgers volleyball in 2026 and will honor all letterwinners during homecoming weekend with a letterwinner open practice and football pregame tailgate on Saturday, Oct. 4 and letterwinner pregame reception and in-match recognition prior to RU taking on Indiana in front of the BTN cameras on Sunday, Oct. 5. Click here to RSVP.
| SEASON & SINGLE GAME TICKETS |
- Season and individual game tickets for 2026 are on sale for Rutgers women's volleyball at Jersey Mike's Arena.
- The Scarlet Knights will welcome 12 opponents to Jersey Mike's Arena this season, featuring nine home dates against Big Ten competition, including contests with Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana, USC, Michigan and UCLA, who all advanced to last year's NCAA Tournament.
- There will be single admission during RU's home matches and neutral site matchups with Stony Brook, Delaware and Rider on Thursday, Sept. 10, Friday, Sept. 11 and Saturday, Sept. 12. One ticket gets fans into both games
- Rutgers' home finale with Maryland on Friday, Nov. 13 will be held at the College Avenue Gym and is free admission.
| UP NEXT |
- Rutgers back at Jersey Mike's Arena for its next four games, starting with the home opener against Rhode Island on Tuesday, Sept. 8. The homestand continues with Stony Brook on Thursday, Sept. 10, Delaware on Friday, Sept. 11 and Rider on Saturday, Sept. 12. Click here for tickets.
Follow Rutgers women's volleyball on Facebook, X and Instagram.
- RU -
Players Mentioned
S
/ Women's Volleyball
S
/ Women's Volleyball
L/DS
/ Women's Volleyball
MB
/ Women's Volleyball
OH/RS
/ Women's Volleyball
MB
/ Women's Volleyball
MB
/ Women's Volleyball
OH/DS
/ Women's Volleyball
OH
/ Women's VolleyballThursday, August 06
Thursday, August 06
Tuesday, August 04
Wednesday, March 25
