Volleyball Takes 3-1 Victory Over LIU In Home Opener

Tuesday, September 8

6:00 PM

Rutgers

4-2,0-0Big Ten

LIU

0-5,0-0NEC

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
LIU	8	27	16	18	1
Rutgers	25	25	25	25	3

Rutgers volleyball celebrates victory over LIU

Volleyball Takes 3-1 Victory Over LIU In Home Opener

Sep 08 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers volleyball picked up its first home victory of the 2026 on Tuesday night with a 3-1 win over LIU at Jersey Mike's Arena.

The Scarlet Knights improved to 4-2 on the year with the 25-8, 27-25, 25-16, 25-18 victory.

LIU's eight first set points were the fewest by a Scarlet Knight opponent in a set going to 25 since a 25-8 second frame win in a sweep of Columbia and a 25-6 third set win over Siena back on August 30, 2017.

Rutgers volleyball vs LIU victory graphic

STANDOUT STATS

Malia Romes led the offense for the second-straight match and was one kill shy of tying her career high with 13. She hit .391 on the evening and added a trio of blocks.
Aspen Maxwell was the other Scarlet Knight in double-figure kills with 11 to go along with a season-high four blocks.
Zharia Harris-Waddy and Imani Howell had eight kills apiece. Harris-Waddy swung at a .571 clip with no errors on 14 attacks, while Howell contributed a career-best nine total blocks.
Lily Bolen came to the service line for a career-high tying five aces and moved up to sixth on the rally-era career leaders list to sixth. With 87 career aces, Bolen needs two more to move into the top five past Kamla Cieslik (2017-21). The junior Scarlet Knight also put up a team-leading 23 assists.
Brooke Baldwin racked up 20 helpers and four aces along with five digs.
Kenzie Dyrstad picked up a match-high 16 digs.

KEY MOMENTS

SET 1 (25-8) | The Scarlet Knight attack swung a blistering .600 to open up play at Jersey Mike's Arena with 13 kills and no errors on 20 attempts and were a perfect 9-9 on sideouts. Malia Romes and Avery Jesewitz accounted for eight kills on a combined nine attempts, while Lily Bolen moved up to sixth on the rally-era career leaders chart with a trio of aces. The Sharks hit in the negative at -.053, collecting just five kills.

S1 | You take it ... and we'll take the point

📺: https://t.co/XvTABWNLK5 (B1G+)
📊: https://t.co/WYs8nFXppy #GoRU ⚔️ pic.twitter.com/bkWD5W7DUb
— Rutgers Volleyball (@RUvball) September 8, 2026

SET 2 (25-27) | Miscues allowed the Sharks to tie up the match at 1-1. A kill from Skylar George had RU at set point when LIU came back with four answered for their own chance at set point up 25-24. The Scarlet Knights stopped the drought following a swing from Romes, evening the frame at 25-25. Rutgers's 11^th attack error put the Sharks back in front and LIU sealed the win on a Dilara Elmacioglu kill. The Scarlet Knights hit .057 for the set, while LIU improved with 10 kills and four errors to swing .200, their best of the night. Brooke Baldwin recorded three of her four aces in the stanza.

SET 3 (25-16) | Rutgers rebounded with a 12-2 run to end the third frame and cleaned up the offense with only two miscues. A Shark ace had the visitors in front 14-13, when RU made its run. The final three points of the set came from Imani Howell with back-to-back kills and teaming up with Skylar George at the net on set point. Howell ultimately led the Scarlet Knights with four kills on five swings and four blocks as RU came back to swing .370 as a team. LIU, meanwhile, hit just .038.

S3 | Block it like its hot 🔥

📺: https://t.co/XvTABWNLK5 (B1G+)
📊: https://t.co/WYs8nFXppy #GoRU ⚔️ pic.twitter.com/CIo4Tr3jVf
— Rutgers Volleyball (@RUvball) September 8, 2026

SET 4 (25-18) | The Scarlet Knights put away the game in leading the fourth and final set from start to finish. The set opened with RU rattling off six unanswered points, including a pair of kills from Maxwell and an ace from Kaila Kalama-Bajet. Maxwell finished with four kills for RU, while Howell and Romes contributed three each. Maxwell and Howell teamed up at the net for the Scarlet Knights' largest lead at 20-12.

S4 | The kind of stop that will make you smile 😄

📺: https://t.co/XvTABWNLK5 (B1G+)
📊: https://t.co/WYs8nFXppy #GoRU ⚔️ pic.twitter.com/t8ZUhtky7f
— Rutgers Volleyball (@RUvball) September 9, 2026

UP NEXT

The week continues with the Scarlet Knights hosting Stony Brook and Rider vs. Delaware on Thursday, Sept. 10, hosting Delaware and Stony Brook vs. Rider on Friday, Sept. 11 and hosting Rider and Delaware vs. Stony Brook on Saturday, Sept. 12. One ticket grants fans admission for both matches on the day. Click here for tickets.

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