In the most anticipated weekend of Rutgers volleyball in a long time, the Scarlet Knights showed much life and promise, taking down Maryland in a four-set victory before falling in straight sets to #1 Nebraska. Although Saturday was the main attraction, Friday night gave Rutgers its first Big Ten win of the season and proved that the Scarlet Knights’ strong start to the season would carry over into conference play.
Despite falling behind 8-0 and 15-4 to the Terrapins early in the first set, Rutgers
volleyball rallied back, tying the set at 20 before winning it 27-25. Maryland answered back to take the second set 25-17, with the Terps hitting a match-best .333 while Rutgers had nine errors.
In the third set, an 8-2 run from the Scarlet Knights put Rutgers in the driver’s seat up 13-6, with a kill from Natalie Robinson giving Rutgers a dominant 23-14 lead. The Terrapins mounted a comeback but fell short as the Knights took the set 25-20.
The fourth set was even more dominant, with Rutgers hitting at .625 with no errors and 15 kills on 24 attempts. Although Maryland pulled within striking distance at 13-10, the Scarlet Knights pulled ahead and never looked back for a 25-16 set victory and a 3-1 match victory over the Terrapins to improve to 10-5 overall (1-2 B1G).
The match was noteworthy on the statsheet, as Zora Hardison passed former teammate Kristina Grkovic to take solo possession of the rally-era season solo blocks record with her 22nd solo block of the year against Maryland.
Rutgers also got its first victory in the Discover In-Season Volleyball Challenge lineup, with each weekday matchup around the Big Ten (Wednesday to Friday) in October being designated towards the In-Season Challenge. The winner will be determined by the team with the highest percentage in Challenge matchups (five games for each of the 18 Big Ten teams).
However, the main attraction was when the undefeated Cornhuskers came into Jersey Mike’s Arena on Saturday night. A sellout and school record crowd packed Jersey Mike’s Arena to the tune of 8,000 fans, presumably a decent mix of Nebraska and Rutgers faithful.
With Nebraska coming off a dominant revenge win over defending national champions Penn State (25-6, 25-15, 25-13 in Happy Valley Friday night), Huskers head coach Dani Busboom-Kelly tinkered with her starting lineup, with Manaia Ogbechie starting for Rebekah Allick, Laney Choboy playing libero, and Skyler Pierce subbing in for Taylor Landfair.
It seemed to have a minimal effect on the game, as the Huskers took an early 15-8 lead before Rutgers rallied to cut the deficit to 15-11. After Rutgers continued to hang around down 18-13 later in the set, Nebraska pulled away to ice it 25-17. Aspen Maxwell had five of her 11 kills in the opening set, continuing her strong start to the year.
Rutgers continued to play the top team in the country tough in Set 2, with Tara Garvey securing back-to-back swings to cut the Huskers’ lead to 10-9 and 11-10. However, Nebraska proceeded to win the next six points and won the set 25-15. Maxwell continued to produce with four kills and an ace for the Knights in the second set.
In the third set, Maxwell had back-to-back kills that saw Rutgers cut the Huskers’ lead to 8-7, once again within a point of the top-ranked Huskers. But like the previous set, Nebraska went on a 5-1 run to pull ahead and take down the Scarlet Knights 25-16. Natalie Robinson was Rutgers’ top performer in the final set, hitting .800 with four kills on five attacks.
Altogether, Rutgers fought valiantly against the #1 Cornhuskers and outperformed defending champions Penn State in each of the three sets, which was very unexpected. Head coach Caitlin Schweihofer continues to build this program, and after a dismal 6-25 2024 campaign, the Scarlet Knights currently sit at 10-6 (1-3 B1G).
Next week, the homestand continues, with Northwestern visiting Jersey Mike’s Arena on Friday at 7 PM and Illinois coming to Piscataway on Saturday at 7 PM. The game against the Wildcats is a Pink Out in support of breast cancer awareness and will count towards the Discover In-Season Volleyball Challenge. Neither opponent is ranked, but the Illini have received votes in the latest poll.
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