Volleyball Makes Inaugural B1G West Coast Trip To Washington & No. 11 Oregon

PISCATAWAY, N.J.  – Rutgers volleyball heads off on its inaugural Big Ten west coast weekend, traveling to Washington to meet the Huskies at Alaska Airlines Arena on Friday, Oct. 25 at 10 p.m. (ET), followed by a Sunday afternoon battle against No. 11 Oregon at Matthew Knight Arena on Oct. 27 at 4 p.m. (ET)

• Rutgers returned back to Jersey Mike’s Arena during Homecoming Weekend to host a pair of nationally-ranked Big Ten opponents, falling to then-No. 14 Minnesota and No. 16 USC in straight sets.
• The Scarlet Knights, who captured their first-ever top-25 victory in program history last season at home against the then-No. 16 Golden Gophers, fell in straight sets. Avery Jesewitz led the Scarlet Knights on the attack for the fourth time this season with eight kills. She also had a team second-best seven digs. Natalie Robinson and redshirt junior Alissa Kinkela each had six kills while Aly Borellis recorded 23 assists. On defense, sophomore Kenzie Dyrstad came up with a game-high 13 digs, while Kinkela added a trio of blocks to her stat line.
• In the first-ever meeting between Rutgers and USC last Sunday, Zora Hardison led RU on the attack for the first time in her career with seven kills while Natalie Robinson and Alissa Kinkela had six kills each. Georgia Lee got the start at s,etter making 21 assists. For the defense, both Dyrstad and Jesewitz came up with five digs, while Robinson totaled four blocks, including a pair of solo stops.
• On the season, Kinkela continues to top the attack at 3.39 k/s with Borellis contributing 6.80 a/s. Both hava a trio of double-doubles under their belts. On the serve, Lily Bolen leads RU with 25 aces.
• At the net, Robinson has totaled 64 blocks, averaging 1.27 per set ranking eighth in the league, while also on defense, Dyrstad is coming up with 2.98 d/s.

• Rutgers hit a number of milestones in the opening week of Big Ten action with the Scarlet Knights going to five sets against both Iowa and Michigan.
• Alissa Kinkela was named the Big Ten Co-Player of the Week by the Big Ten Conference last week after pounding out 5.30 kills per set and hitting .446 along with an average 2.40 digs per set and six blocks in RU’s two five-set Big Ten openers. Kinkela, who is the first-ever Scarlet Knight to earn Big Ten Player of…