PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers volleyball is out on the street Wednesday, Oct. 15 to shut out the season collection with Maryland in entrance of the BTN cameras with Jason Knapp and Mac Podraza on the decision. The match is RU’s third sport within the Discover In-Season Volleyball Challenge with first serve set for 7 p.m.
- Rutgers is coming off a four-game homestand which included a 3-0 victory over Maryland within the Scarlet Knights’ Big Ten residence opener again on Oct. 3. In addition to selecting up its first Big Ten win of the season, RU set a faculty and state document in attendance with 8,000 at Jersey Mike’s Arena to observe the Scarlet Knights tackle No. 1 Nebraska. Last weekend, Rutgers fell to Northwestern and Illinois, a staff that continues to obtain votes within the AVCA Top 25 Poll. Altogether, the Scarlet Knights, Wildcats and Fighting Illini battled to 40 ties throughout six units.
- The Scarlet Knights come into the weekend at 10-8 general and 1-5 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.
- Entering the week, RU leads the convention in aces per set (2.08) and ranks ninth nationally, led by Lexi Visintine’s 29 on the yr, averaging a league third-best 0.48 per set. More lately, the Scarlet Knights served up 11 in their 3-0 victory over Columbia to finish nonconference play with Visintine and Aspen Maxwell every serving up a trio. With 84 aces in her profession, Visintine is at present fifth in rally-era profession aces, having cracked the highest 5 within the 3-1 win over Maryland two weeks in the past.
- Aspen Maxwell, who has picked up two all-tournament nods this nonconference season, together with being named the Sacred Heart Invite MVP, is fifth in factors per set (4.79) and in whole factors (292.0), fourth in whole kills (245) and sixth in kills per set (4.02) within the Big Ten. The proper facet leads RU with 4.02 kills per body, together with 3472 per set in Big Ten motion. Additionally, she is second on the squad with 46 whole blocks.
- Lily Bolen is including 10.36 assists per body and is nineteenth nationally and fourth amongst Big Ten setters within the class. She has collected 4 double-doubles this season in matches with Marist, Liberty, LIU and most lately versus Maryland with 42 assists and 10 digs.
- Zora Hardison leads RU with the stops on the web with 72 whole blocks, together with 23 solo stops. She is the Rutgers rally-era chief in solo blocks, having surpassed the previous document of 21 set by former teammate Kristina Grkovic in 2023. Grkovic additionally holds the profession document with 43 solo rejections from 2020-23, which Hardison is closing in on with 42 in her third season of motion. Last weekend, Hardison totaled 10 rejections in matches with Northwestern and Illinois to surpass the 200 profession block mark.
- Alleigh Dutton has led RU in digs in all however one match to date and averages 3.21 per set.
- The Terps are available in entrance of the BTN cameras with a 7-9 ovrall document and on the lookout for their first Big Ten win having dropped all six league matches to this point. Following its 3-1 loss at Rutgers on Oct. 3, Maryland battled then No. 16 Penn State to 5 units and fell 3-1 to Illinois and 3-0 to No. 7 Wisconsin at residence.
- Ajack Maluai leads the assault at 3.60 okay/s and has additionally put up a team-leading 30 aces. Lilly Wagner is posting 7.92 a/s set to arrange the offense.
- On the block, each Duru Gokcen and Eva Rohrbach lead Maryland with 79 and 78 whole blocks, respectively. Digging up the protection is Ally Williams at 3.32 d/s and Lilly Wagner at 2.35 d/s.
- Rutgers volleyball used a gritty first-set comeback victory to gas its 3-1 Big Ten residence opening victory over Maryland again on Oct 3, successful the primary sport of their Discover In-Season Volleyball Challenge lineup
- The Scarlet Knights got here again from an 11-point deficit to take the opening set, 27-25, however dropped set two, 17-25. RU, nonetheless, by no means trailed once more, taking the victory behind a 25-20 set three win and a 25-16 set 4 triumph.
- Two Scarlet Knights landed in double-figure kills as Aspen Maxwell captured her second double-double of the yr with the team-leading 13 kills to go along with 10 digs and Zora Hardison collected 11 kills on 18 swings with just one error to hit .556 on the night time.
- Hardison additionally turned Rutgers’ rally-era season chief in solo blocks as she surpassed former teammate Kristina Grkovic’s document from 2023 together with her 22nd solo rejection. Hardison ended the night time with 5 whole blocks.
- Lily Bolen was one other Scarlet Knights to log a double-double as she carried out her fourth of the season and sixth of her profession with 42 assists and 10 digs. It was the second time this season RU has had two Scarlet Knights with double-doubles with Maxwell and Bolen with the feat towards Liberty again on Aug. 30. Bolen additionally contributed a career-high three blocks and tied her excessive in kills with a trio within the victory
- Altogether, 4 Scarlet Knights recorded double-figure digs for the primary time since Oct. 27, 2023 in a five-set win at Iowa. Alleigh Dutton got here up with 11 digs, whereas Maxwell and Bolen joined Jenna DeLaMaterwith 10, a season excessive.
- Natalie Robinson led RU on the web with six whole stops and was simply shy of a double-double with 9 kills. The center made just one error on 15 assaults to complete the night time hitting .533.
- At the road, RU served up 9 aces with Maxwell, DeLaMater, Bolen and Dutton all with a pair apiece.
- The Big Ten Conference and Big Ten Network (BTN) introduced the launch of a newly created In-Season Volleyball Challenge. Partnering with Discover®, the official bank card of the Big Ten Conference, the inaugural Discover In-Season Volleyball Challenge will debut in the course of the 2025 common season convention schedule, beginning Oct. 1, encompassing all 18 Big Ten Volleyball packages.
- Select convention matches performed in the course of the month of October will depend towards the Discover In-Season Volleyball Challenge. Each staff will play 5 designated problem matches all through the month, with the winner decided by the best win whole throughout the 5 video 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 |
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+ |
- Zora Hardison is RU’s rally-era season solo blocks chief and is coming near turning into the rally-era profession chief and getting into the all-time high 10 within the class. With 42 profession solo blocks, she wants two extra to surpass former teammate Kristina Grkovic (2020-23) because the rally-era profession chief. The junior center can be 12 solo blocks away from becoming a member of the RU all-time profession solo block high 10 record.
- Hardison additionally has 203 whole blocks and is 4 blocks away from becoming a member of the rally-era profession high 10 record, surpassing Stasa Miljeic (2017-19) for tenth place.
- Lexi Visintine has served up 84 profession aces and desires six extra to maneuver into fourth previous Kamila Cieslik (2017-21) on the rally-era profession record. Additionally, Visintine is one ace away from becoming a member of the rally-era season high 10 record for a second time in her profession with 29 aces to this point.
- Lily Bolen has racked up 915 profession helpers and is 85 assists away from her 1,000th profession help and 199 away from transferring into sixth on the rally-era profession leaders record previous Nicole Bayer (2012-14).
- Rutgers gained a stretch of seven straight, marking the longest win streak for this system since 2012. During the streak, RU captured sweeps in six of the seven contests, together with 4 consecutive 3-0 victories, the longest streak of sweeps since 2012.
- During RU’s win streak, Aspen Maxwell blasted away 4.41 okay/s whereas hitting .361 on her 97 whole kills, including 11 aces, 1.50 d/s, and 16 whole blocks, and Tara Garvey put away 68 kills to common 3.09 okay/s.
- Zora Hardison was on the web for 31 stops, together with 11 solo blocks, averaging 1.48 blocks per body. She additionally hit .363 with 41 kills, averaging 1.95 per set.
- Natalie Robinson was additionally on the block for 13 blocks whereas contributing 1.77 okay/s and swinging at a .372 clip.
- In addition to Maxwell, Lexi Visintine and Lily Bolen had been additionally in double-figure aces. Visintine served up 15 with Bolen amassing 13.
- Bolen averaged 10.68 assists per set, serving to RU to common 14.05 kills per body and swing .336 throughout the streak. She additionally got here up with 2.23 d/s.
- Alleigh Dutton continued to be regular for the protection, selecting up 3.64 d/s.
- Opening weekend Aspen Maxwell was named to the Buffalo Invite All-Tournament Team after averaging 3.93 kills and including 9 blocks throughout 14 units. In her RU debut, Maxwell hit .346 with 14 kills and 4 blocks within the victory over Marist. She adopted up with 20 kills and 12 digs for her first profession double-double to associate with 4 blocks in a five-set match with Liberty and added a career-high 21 kills with Buffalo.
- Maxwell, the next week, was named the Sacred Heart Invitational MVP after averaging 4.20 okay/s with a .363 assault proportion together 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 whereas additionally contributing two aces, two blocks and 7 digs. Maxwell’s 16 kills tied for the fifth most kills by a Scarlet Knight in a three-set match, whereas her effectivity on the assault helped RU hit .348. Additionally, her 19.0 factors marked by sixth-most by an RU participant in a three-set match of the rally period. Maxwell adopted up with 9 kills and a career-high 5 blocks as RU made it back-to-back sweeps in its win over host Sacred Heart. The proper facet ended the weekend with a match-best 17 kills, swinging .367, with a career-high 4 aces and eight digs because the Scarlet Knights wrapped up the weekend with a 3-1 win over NEC favourite LIU.
- Lily Bolen additionally made an look on the Sacred Heart All-Tournament Team, having averaged 9.60 a/s, 2.70 d/s and 6 aces. In a sweep of Dartmouth to kick off the weekend, she put up 29 helpers and narrowly missed a double-double with 9 digs and helped direct the assault to hit .348. Bolen adopted 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 together with her third double-double of the season with 41 assists and 10 digs to associate with a block because the Scarlet Knights wrapped up the weekend with a 3-1 win over NEC favourite LIU.
- In Caitlin Schweihofer‘s first season, performed within the spring of 2021 attributable to COVID-19, the Scarlet Knights tripled its convention win whole en path to capturing quite a few program firsts. Among the staff’s firsts had been its first-ever All-Big Ten honoree and Big Ten collection sweeps. The Scarlet Knights gained their first-ever Big Ten residence opener, earned victories over Indiana and Michigan State for the primary time in historical past, captured two collection sweeps towards Maryland and Michigan State, picked up set victories towards No. 4 Nebraska and No. 10 Purdue and pushed No. 19 Ohio State to 5 units and match level. RU established new staff, season and match information for aces and reset program Big Ten sport bests in kills, makes an attempt, assault proportion and assists, in addition to particular person convention superlatives in assault proportion, assists and digs.
- Returning to fall ball for the 2021 season solely 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 finest nonconference document since 2012. During the season the Scarlet Knights battled eight Top 25 groups throughout Big Ten play, a convention that despatched eight groups to the NCAA Tournament, together with the yr’s nationwide champion. Rutgers captured set wins over No. 8 Purdue and No. 15 Penn State and took Illinois to 5 units in entrance of a nationwide viewers on BTN. Inna Balyko wrapped up her profession fifth all-time in assists and ninth all-time in block assists, whereas Kamila Cieslik turned the rally period chief in matches performed (132) and Beka Kojadinovic concluded her profession because the rally period chief in aces.
- More success continued in 2022 because the Scarlet Knights opened the yr at 3-0 for the primary time since 1998 and battled eight Top 25 groups throughout Big Ten play and eight groups that superior to the 2022 NCAA Tournament. During the nonconference schedule, 4 Scarlet Knights had been named to All-Tournament squads whereas altogether Rutgers had 11 entries among the many rally-era season leaders record.
- Another step up the ladder occurred in 2023 because the Scarlet Knights earned their first-ever All-Big Ten attacker, captured their first-ever high 25 victory, collected probably the most general wins and finest nonconference document since 2012, improved set wins by 45% over the earlier season and set a faculty document in attendance. RU positioned 12 entries into the rally-era particular person season high 10 information and 13 entries into the rally-era staff high 10 information whereas amassing probably the most units performed, kills, assists, assists per set, digs and solo blocks by a staff in convention play since becoming a member of the Big Ten in 2014.
- Last season, a youthful Scarlet Knight squad continued to rewrite the Rutgers document guide, placing up a number of notable profession and season numbers because the Big Ten expanded to the West Coast. On the assault, Alissa Kinkela, the squad’s first-ever All-Big Ten attacker from 2023 and an Australian Olympic hopeful, cracked the highest 10 all-time in profession kills, the second most rally-era profession kills and the third most rally-era profession kills per set. Following the season, Kinkela signed to play professionally in South Korea. In addition to Kinkela’s mark within the document guide, Rutgers put 9 entries into the rally-era particular person season high 10 information, with a brand new benchmark set for blocks in a rally-era season from rookie Natalie Robinson. Additionally, Robinson leads RU’s profession blocks per set class after just one season “On The Banks”. At the identical time, junior Lexi Visintine was simply two aces shy of setting a brand new season customary within the class.
- The Scarlet Knights are again residence 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 buy tickets.
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