Volleyball Heads To New York For Matches With Morgan State & Columbia

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers volleyball is back in action in another nearby road trip heading to NYC to meet Morgan State in a neutral site contest on Friday, Sept. 8 at 3:00 p.m. and host Columbia on Saturday, Sept. 9 at 6:30 p.m.
 

• Rutgers is coming off a 3-1 victory at Rider on Wednesday night as head coach Caitlin Schweihofer collected her 100th career victory. RU improved to 5-1 overall behind double-figure kills from four Scarlet Knights – senior middle Kristina Grkovic, redshirt sophomore middle Rikki Williams, and sophomore outsides Lexi Visintine and Alissa Kinkela. Fifth-year senior setter Alyssa Nayar also contributed her third double-double of the 2023 season.
• Last weekend, the Scarlet Knights went 2-1 at the Summit Hospitality Group Open in Raleigh, North Carolina. The Scarlet Knights got sweeps of Winthrop and Howard and fell in a five-set thriller against host NC State.
• Redshirt sophomore outside hitter Alissa Kinkela led the attack last weekend to the tune of 2.73 k/s and 1.64 b/s. The Melbourne, Australia native made a career-high six rejections in all three matches.
• The Scarlet Knights averaged 3.0 blocks per set over the three-game tournament, which included 13.0 stops against Howard for the third most blocks in a three-set match of the rally era and 12.0 swats versus N.C. State.
• RU also had a pair of double-doubles against NC State with sophomore outside Taylor Humphrey collecting 10 kills and 10 digs and fifth-year senior setter Alyssa Nayar registering 36 helpers and 19 digs against the Wolfpack.  
• Entering this week’s three-match week, the Scarlet Knights are led offensively by Kinkela with 2.91 k/s and is second at the net with 0.96 b/s. Senior middle Kristina Grkovic is second on the squad at 2.22 k/s along with a team-leading 10 aces, which included a career-high tying five against N.C. State. She is currently ranked ninth in the Big Ten at the service line. The Belgrade, Serbia native also leads the block at 1.39 b/s and is among RU’s rally-era career leaders in the category. She is also ninth on the block in the Big Ten.
• Nayar aids the attack with 8.61 helpers per set and is second on the team with 2.91 d/s.
• Senior libero Madyson Chitty is currently logging 3.96 d/s and checks in ninth in the Big Ten. The Lewis Center, Ohio…