Volleyball Travels To Ohio State & Michigan State

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers volleyball wraps up its present street swing by touring to Columbus, Ohio, to fulfill up with Ohio State within the first of two conferences this season with the Buckeyes on Friday, Oct. 31 after which heads to East Lansing, Michigan, to face Michigan State on Saturday, Nov. 1. Friday’s assembly with the Buckeyes can even be the ultimate match within the Big Ten Discover Challenge.

• Rutgers volleyball closes out a four-game street swing and is coming off a 3-0 loss at #18 Penn State and a five-setter setback at Iowa. Against the Nittany Lions, the Scarlet Knights almost pulled off the first-frame upset in opposition to the defending nationwide champions, holding a 21-18 lead, earlier than PSU got here again for the win.  Against the Hawkeyes, RU went forward with the 2-0 lead 25-20 and 26-24 wins within the first two units, however Iowa prevented the sweep with a 25-16 third set win, compelled a deciding set behind a 27-25 fourth set victory and picked up the victory, 15-9, within the fifth set.
• Rutgers leads the convention in aces with 153 served up by the Knights this season and averaging 2.01 per set. Lexi Visintine continues to guide RU on the line coming into the weekend on the prime of the Big Ten with 36 and averaging 0.47 per set to rank thirtieth nationally within the class. More lately, Visintine served up 4 aces at Maryland again on Oct. 15, tying her season excessive and one ace shy of tying her profession excessive of 5 set in a impartial web site assembly with UMBC in Norfolk, Virginia final season.
• Aspen Maxwell, who has picked up two all-tournament nods this nonconference season, together with being named the Sacred Heart Invite MVP, is third within the league in whole factors (345.5), fifth in whole kills (289), sixth in factors per set (4.55) and eighth in kills per set (3.80). Her 3.80 kills per set presently leads all Scarlet Knights within the rally-era in a season.
• Lily Bolen is including 10.00 assists per body and is thirty sixth nationally and fifth amongst Big Ten setters within the class. She has collected six double-doubles this season in matches with Marist, Liberty, LIU, Maryland and most lately in back-to-back video games at No. 18 Penn State (22a, 10d) and at Iowa (44a, 12d). Bolen additionally surpassed the 1,000 profession help mark final Sunday at Iowa.
• Zora Hardison leads RU with the stops on the internet with 80 whole blocks, together with 23 solo stops. She is the Rutgers rally-era season chief in solo blocks, having surpassed the previous document of 21 set by former teammate Kristina Grkovic in 2023 and is one solo cease shy of taking up because the RU profession document holder with 43 solo rejections in her third season of motion. She surpassed the 200 profession whole block whole in early October. 
• Alleigh Dutton has led RU in digs in all however one match to date and averages 3.29 per set. Last Sunday at Iowa, Dutton tied her profession excessive for a 3rd time this yr with 17 digs and likewise added a career-high eight helpers.

• The Buckeyes enter the week at 3-15 general and 0-10 in Big Ten motion. OSU is coming off a pair of residence losses final weekend, having fallen to Michigan in straight units and falling 3-1 to #18 Penn State.
• The assault is led by Hannah Jones at 3.60 okay/s, directed by Mia Tuman at 8.32 a/s. At the road, Olivia Hasbrook has delivered a team-leading 21 aces. 
• On the block, the Buckeyes are led by Kaia Castle with 68 whole stops, whereas Hasbrook is developing with a team-leading 3.32 digs per body.

• The Spartans will host #10 Purdue on Friday evening earlier than they welcome the Scarlet Knights on Saturday. Entering the week, Michigan State is 15-5 general and 5-5 in Big Ten play, having come off back-to-back street losses with a 3-1 setback at Iowa and a 3-0 defeat at #1 Nebraska on Sunday. 
• Tayiah Holdem leads MSU at 3.68 okay/s with Karolina Staniszewska including 3.04 per body. Malayah Long, in the meantime, is dropping in 9.95 ha/s together with a team-leading 23 aces.
• Defensively, the Spartans wish to Zuzanna Kulligat the online together with her 611 stops to-date and Sarah Vellucci and Lia Schneider averaging 2.67 and a couple of.59 digs per body, respectively.

• Zora Hardison is RU’s rally-era season solo blocks chief and is near changing into the sole rally-era profession chief and coming into the all-time prime 10 within the class. With 43 profession solo blocks, she is presently in a tie with former teammate Kristina Grkovic (2020-23) because the rally-era profession chief. 
• Hardison additionally has 211 whole blocks and joined the rally-era profession prime 10 listing two weeks in the past in opposition to #12 Purdue. She wants 12 extra to maneuver into eighth on the listing previous All-Big Ten choice Alissa Kinkela (2017-21).   
• Lexi Visintine has served up 91 profession aces and sits in fourth on the rally-era profession listing. She wants 4 extra to maneuver into third previous Ronnie Komisarek (2012-15).  With her 4 aces at Maryland again on Oct. 15, Visintine joined the rally-era season prime 10 listing for a second time in her profession.  
• With 36 aces thus far, Visintine must serve up three extra to maneuver second previous her personal 2024 mark of 37 and three extra to move Tracy Wright (2013) because the rally-era season document holder in aces.
• On Sunday at Iowa, Lily Bolen turned the seventh Scarlet Knight of the rally period to crack the 1,000 profession mark. She is 71 helpers away from shifting into sixth on the rally-era profession leaders listing previous Nicole Bayer (2012-14).
• Bolen is additionally solely three assists away from becoming a member of the rally-era season prime 10, seven away from shifting into ninth and 71 away from putting her title eighth on the listing. 
• Natalie Robinson additionally joined the rally-era profession solo block listing and has racked up 25 in her two seasons “On The Banks”. She wants two extra solo stops to maneuver into sixth previous Inna Balyko (2018-21) and 6 extra to surpass Alex Jones (2009-12) for fifth.
• Aspen Maxwell, whose 3.80 kills per set presently leads the Scarlet Knights rally-era season listing, is simply 4.5 factors away from shifting into the highest 10 rally-era season factors listing. She wants 10 extra factors to leap in ninth previous Alex Lassa (2012). 11.5 extra factors to maneuver previous Sahbria McLetchie (2018) into eighth and 22 extra factors to land in seventh, passing Meme Fletcher (2015).

• 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 rely towards the Discover In-Season Volleyball Challenge. Each workforce 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:

• 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 share 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 aspect 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 resulting from COVID-19, the Scarlet Knights tripled its convention win whole en path to capturing quite a few program firsts. Among the workforce’s firsts have been its first-ever All-Big Ten honoree and Big Ten sequence sweeps. The Scarlet Knights received their first-ever Big Ten residence opener, earned victories over Indiana and Michigan State for the primary time in historical past, captured two sequence sweeps in opposition to Maryland and Michigan State, picked up set victories in opposition to No. 4 Nebraska and No. 10 Purdue and pushed No. 19 Ohio State to 5 units and match level. RU established new workforce, season and match information for aces and reset program Big Ten sport bests in kills, makes an attempt, assault share and assists, in addition to particular person convention superlatives in assault share, 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 have been named to All-Tournament squads whereas altogether Rutgers had 11 entries among the many rally-era season leaders listing.
• Another step up the ladder occurred in 2023 because the Scarlet Knights earned their first-ever All-Big Ten attacker, captured their first-ever prime 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 prime 10 information and 13 entries into the rally-era workforce prime 10 information whereas amassing probably the most units performed, kills, assists, assists per set, digs and solo blocks by a workforce 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 e book, 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 e book, Rutgers put 9 entries into the rally-era particular person season prime 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 commonplace within the class.

• Rutgers is again residence subsequent week with the Scarlet Knights taking over Michigan at Jersey Mike’s Arena on Friday, Nov. 7 Michigan and assembly up once more with Ohio State on Sunday, Nov. 9 on the College Ave Gym. Admission is free to the College Ave Gym. Click here to buy tickets for matches at Jersey Mike’s Arena.   

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