Three days after closing the Bellarmine Classic 2-1,Rutgers opened the Big Ten/SEC Challenge with a massive sweep, beating Arkansas 25-19, 25-20, 25-16 on Tuesday at Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville.
This one didn’t come down to the serve, though the serve came anyway. Rutgers hit .344 for the match and held Arkansas to .152, and won the kill count 44-27 on one more attack attempt. The Scarlet Knights added nine aces against nine Arkansas reception errors, three of them on Gaby Cornier, and sided out
at 66.1 percent to Arkansas’ 48.6.
Arkansas took 37 swings in the first set, more than either team took in any other set of the match, and put away nine of them.
Seven Ties in the First Set, Four in the Last Two
Imani Howell went back to serve at 4-2 and Rutgers didn’t lose a rally until it was 9-2. She aced Madi Benne and Parker Duncan inside the run, Aspen Maxwell put away back-to-back sets from Skylar George, and Natalie Robinson closed it out as Arkansas called timeout.
Then Kiki Remensperger got the ball. Arkansas trailed 11-6, and the Razorback setter served five straight points with three aces in them, two of those landing on George. A Malia Romes attack error and a Romani Thurman-Layla Smith block on Karis Willow filled in the rest. Six unanswered points, and Arkansas led 12-11.
The set stayed there a while, seven ties and four lead changes, until Arkansas went up 18-16 on a Maxwell attack error. Rutgers won nine of the last ten. George put down consecutive kills to tie it, Romes made it 19-18, Lily Bolen aced Cornier for 20-18 and forced an Arkansas timeout, and Duncan’s attack error made it 21-18. Willow ended it off a Kenzie Dyrstad set. 25-19.
The second set had three ties and no lead changes. Arkansas got even at 5-5 and 7-7 and never got in front. Romes scored back-to-back for 7-5, Robinson and Romes stuffed Duncan at 8-7, and Willow served consecutive aces at 12-9 and 13-9, both on Cornier.
It was the messiest set Rutgers played, six attack errors and a .226 clip, and Arkansas made a run at it. Down 17-12 after Bolen aced Duncan, the Razorbacks took four of the next five behind Paisley Pavliska, who came off the bench for five kills, and Cornier’s ace made it 18-16 and drew a Rutgers timeout. Robinson answered on the next rally. Howell put down three of the next six, and Maxwell and Robinson blocked Laci Bohannan to end it 25-20.
The third was over by the media timeout.
Willow aced Benne for 4-1, Dyrstad aced Bohannan for 10-6, and Howell served four straight from 14-9, kills by Maxwell, Robinson, George and Maxwell again, the first of them set by backup setter Kaila Kalama-Bajet, to make it 18-9 through another Arkansas timeout. Rutgers hit .444 in the set. Arkansas won three in a row late to get within 20-14, Smith’s solo block on Robinson capping it, and got no closer. Pavliska’s attack error brought up set point and Thurman’s service error finished the match at 25-16.
Stats Breakdown
Rutgers scored 75 points to 55 and won a match in which it was out-blocked 5.0 to 4.0. Everything else went one direction with 93 attacks to 92, 44 kills to 27, 41 digs to 32, 41 assists to 27.
Howell was the most efficient player in the gym, eight kills with no errors on 11 swings for .727, plus two aces and two block assists and a match-high 11 points. Robinson went 8-for-12 with one error, .583, her second straight match above .500. Maxwell had eight kills at .375. George led the team in both kills (nine) and attempts (24) at .250. Romes added six on 14 swings. Bolen and Baldwin split the setting 19-18. Dyrstad had 13 digs.
Rutgers served for nine aces and 10 errors. Baldwin alone had four service errors, Willow three.
Arkansas got 24 assists and three aces from Remensperger, and Aleki Alexander’s 3.0 blocks led all players. The attack never showed up. Duncan hit .053 on 19 swings, Bohannan .118 on 17, and Lakin Laurendine went 2-for-13 with two errors before coming out after the first set. Thurman was the only Razorback above .200 with more than eight attempts, at .357. Benne dug 11.
What Worked (and One Thing That Didn’t)
Skylar George. Three days after a one-kill, six-error afternoon against Evansville that had her out of the lineup after the second set, she took more swings than anyone on the floor and finished at .250, and Rutgers ran the offense through her in the third set while it was putting the match away. She also took two of Remensperger’s three aces in the first set, so the passing is still a question. The hitting is not the same question it was Saturday.
The serve, again. Nine more aces makes 33 in the three wins, and the read here Saturday was that an SEC team would not pass the way Bellarmine and Evansville did. Arkansas committed nine reception errors and gave up three on one player.
What didn’t work was Willow, as after a strong weekend, she had five kills and four errors on 15 swings, .067, plus three service errors for a match-high seven total errors. She had three aces and five digs and put away the point that ended the first set, so the ledger is not all red. The swing was not there.
Rutgers is 3-1 and stays at Memorial Gymnasium for host Vanderbilt on Wednesday before the home opener against LIU. Rutgers just beat an SEC opponent in straight sets while hitting .344, which is a different way to win than the one that carried it through Louisville. This game proves that the mishap to start the season was clearly a fluke with this win. The Commodores look to be the next opponent is a red hot opponent.
