RALEIGH, N.C. – Rutgers volleyball thwarted a late first-set surge, made a late second-set burst and ended the third set on an 8-1 run to sweep Howard on the final day of the Summit Hospitality Group Open on Saturday.
The Scarlet Knights got past the Bison 25-23, 27-25, 25-17 to improve to 4-1 on the season and end the weekend tournament going 2-1. Howard, meanwhile, dropped to 3-3 overall.
- Two Scarlet Knights finished with double-digit kills. Redshirt sophomore Alissa Kinkela led with a game-high 12, committing only one error on 23 swings, and senior Kristina Grkovic added 10. Redshirt sophomore Rikki Williams, meanwhile, hit .700 with seven kills and no errors on 10 attempts.
Defensively, RU collected 25 total blocks for the third most in a three-set match of the rally era. Williams captured a career-high nine total blocks, while Kinkela made six rejections for the third-straight contest.
Fifth-year senior Alyssa Nayar put up 29 assists and narrowly missed a double-double with nine digs.
Senior Madyson Chitty also came away with nine digs in the victory.
- Set 1 (25-23) | Rutgers thwarted a late surge by Howard to take the opening set. A Madyson Chitty ace capped an 8-1 run by the Scarlet Knights that pushed Rutgers out to a 10-5 lead and a 7-1 run including a solo block by Rikki Williams gave RU an 18-9 advantage. One of Alissa Kinkela’s team-leading four kills of the set gave the Scarlet Knights its largest lead of the frame at 23-12, but the Bison pushed back. Howard outscored Rutgers 11-1 to pull within a point at 24-23. RU ended up…
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