Volleyball Adds To Record Book In Season Finale With Ohio State

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Rutgers volleyball closed out the 2023 season taking the opening frame from host Ohio State, but the Buckeyes claimed the next three sets for the 3-1 win at the Covelli Center on Saturday night.

 

RU claimed a 25-23 win in set one, dropped the second set 25-16, battled through 10 ties in set three in a 25-21 setback and had a late fourth set surge fall short in a 25-21 loss.

 

Rutgers added more entries to the record book with senior middle Kristina Grkovic landing in the all-time top ten in career blocks, classmate Madyson Chitty cracking the rally-era career aces list and redshirt sophomore Alissa Kinkela moving into the top 10 in career kills.

• Redshirt sophomore Alissa Kinkela was just short of a double-double with a team-leading 14 kills and nine digs. Her 
• Senior Kristina Grkovic moved into all-time top 10 career blocks with three stops to become the 10th Scarlet Knight in program history with over 300 stops during their time “On The Banks”. Grkovic also added 12 kills.
• Senior Madyson Chitty posted 17 digs while her ace, one of six by the Scarlet Knights, moved into the rally-era career top 10.
• Fifth-year senior Alyssa Nayar notched 40 helpers and eight digs.
• Freshman Zora Hardison led RU at the net with five total stops.

• Set 1 (25-23) | Both squads hit over .300 and changed leads three times before Rutgers went up 1-0 closing with five straight points. The match kicked off with the Scarlet Knights going out to a 12-5 lead and the RU also holding a seven-point advantage at 14-7. After a Taylor Humphrey kill put RU ahead 16-11, Ohio State went on a 9-2 run capped by six straight to take over the lead with a 20-18 edge. The two sides traded the next six points until a pair of Buckeye miscues and a swing and block from Alissa Kinkela sealed it for the Scarlet Knights. Kinkela and Humphrey both logged four points with only one attack error between the two in 18 total attempts.

• Set 2 (16-25) | RU opened with an 8-4 advantage, but a 4-1 Ohio State run pulled the hosts to within one. The Scarlet Knights responded with three straight with a pair of blocks from Kristina Grkovic and an ace from Kinkela.  A solo stop from Grkovic continued to have RU up by four at…