Volleyball Back On The Road To Iowa & No. 1 Nebraska

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers volleyball closes the month of October on the road traveling to Iowa on Friday, Oct. 27 at 7 p.m. (ET) and No. 1 Nebraska on Saturday, Oct. 28 at 8 p.m. (ET).
 

• At the conclusion of the weekend, Rutgers will have played five of its last six matches on the road before hosting five of eight matches at home in November.
• The Scarlet Knights are coming off a five-set setback to Illinois on Sunday marking the second time RU and the Fighting Illini have gone to five frames at Jersey Mike’s Arena. Alissa Kinkela and Alyssa Nayar collected double-doubles while Kinkela joined Kristina Grkovic and Taylor Humphrey in double-figure kills.
• Heading into the week, redshirt sophomore right side Alissa Kinkela leads the offense with 3.07 k/s In her third season “On The Banks”, Kinkela is currently fourth in the rally-era career kills per set at 2.83 behind Sarah Schmid’s 3.18 k/s (2012), Caitlin Saxton’s 3.13 k/s (2008-10), and Meme Fletchers’ 2.84 k/s (2014-17).
• Senior middle Kristina Grkovic is second on the squad at 2.20 k/s hitting .342 along with a team-leading 20 aces, which included a career-high tying five against N.C. State. Grkovic was one kill shy of tying her career-high last against Maryland hitting .667 in the four-set match. During the final week of nonconference play, Grkovic cracked the Rutgers rally-era career kills and aces top ten lists and is among RU’s rally-era career leaders in blocks.
• Fifth-year senior Alyssa Nayar is on the set averaging 7.09 helpers per set, ranking ninth in the Big Ten, and is second on the team with 2.72 d/s. She also leads the Scarlet Knights with eight double-doubles on the season including 45 assists and 17 digs against Illinois in RU’s last match. Two weeks ago, she was named the Big Ten Setter of the Week after averaging 10.25 a/s against No. 24 Ohio State and No. 16 Minnesota. 
• Senior libero Madyson Chitty is currently logging 3.56 d/s, ranking ninth in the Big Ten. She became the 10th Scarlet Knight in history to reach the 1,000 career digs when RU closed nonconference play against Princeton and moved into seventh all-time and third in the rally era in career digs. Against Illinois on Sunday, she tied her season with 22 digs marking the third time this season with 20 or more digs in a match.
• Redshirt sophomore middle