Volleyball Surges Fall Short Against Illinois

Saturday, October 11

Piscataway, N.J.

7:00 PM

Rutgers University

10-8,1-5Big Ten

Illinois

10-5,5-1Big Ten

Illinois

Rutgers

Photo by: Lovens Lormilus

Oct 11 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score Photo Gallery

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers volleyball pushed across surges across all three sets on Saturday night at Jersey Mike's Arena against Illinois, a team receiving votes in the latest AVCA Top 15 poll. However, it was the Fighting Illini on top 25-20, 25-20, 25-23.

Rutgers fell to 10-8 overall, taking on its third Big Ten team featured in the polls, and 1-5 against the league. Illinois, meanwhile, improved to 10-5 overall and 5-1 in conference play.

STANDOUT STATS

Seniors Lexi Visintine and Tara Garvey paced the attack with eight kills each while sophomore Aspen Maxwell and junior Zora Hardison added seven kills apiece. Natalie Robinson, meanwhile, connected at a .556 clip on the attack with six kills on nine swings with only one miscue.
Sophomore Lily Bolen connected for 31 helpers, five digs and a pair of blocks. The Scarlet Knight setter is closing in on reaching her 1,000^th career assist and currently sits at 915.
Classmate Alleigh Dutton notched seven digs for the defense.
Hardison led RU with four assisted blocks to surpass the 200-career block mark. With her 203 career blocks, she is now four blocks away from moving into sole possession of 10^th on the rally-era career leaders list, passing Stasa Miljevic (2017-19).

KEY MOMENTS

SET 1 (20-25) | The Scarlet Knights overcame a seven-point deficit and were tied with the Fighting Illini at 17-17 before the visitors pulled ahead for the win. An Illinois miscue gave RU a 7-6 edge, but the Fighting Illinois notched the next eight points to go ahead 14-7. Rutgers, however, came back with six unanswered, including two Tara Garvey swings, and trailed, 14-13. Lexi Visintine kills knotted the frame up at 16-16 and 17-17, but Illinois responded with a 4-0 run and outscored RU 8-3 down the stretch.

SET 2 (20-25) | Zora Hardison came swinging as the two squads were even at 6-6, but Illinois used a 7-2 run to establish a 13-8 advantage and a lead it would not relinquish. On four occasions, RU was able to reduce its deficit to a trio. A pair Fighting Illini attack errors had the Scarlet Knights down 13-10 and 17-14, an ace from Lauren Wilcock saw Rutgers trail 19-16 and a trio of errors saw RU in the match behind 23-20. Illinois, however, put away the frame on a kill on one of Taylor de Boer's match-high 16 kills and blocks from de Boer and Burbage.

SET 3 (23-25) | While the Fighting Illini opened with an 11-4 run, the Scarlet Knights countered by outscoring Illinois 9-4 and climbed back into the game down by one at 14-13. The burst saw aces from Visintine and Alleigh Dutton. Illinois stayed in front and led 19-16 when a kill from Hardison, blocks from Lily Bolen and Robinson and an attack from Robinson tied the set up at 19-19. Both squads traded the next nine points, resulting in four more ties. A rocket from the right side by Maxwell saw the match tied for the final time at 23 all before a service error and blocks by Alyssa Aguayo and Burbage gave Illinois the match.

UP NEXT

Rutgers volleyball wraps up the season series with Maryland in College Park on Wednesday, Oct. 15, at 7 p.m. The match will air on BTN with Jason Knapp & Mac Podraza on the call. It will be RU's third game of the Discover In-Season Volleyball Challenge, entering with a 1-1 record in challenge play.
The Scarlet Knights are back home at Jersey Mike's Arena on Sunday, Oct. 19 to host #12 Purdue on Letterwinner Day/Homecoming Weekend at 1 p.m. Click here to purchase tickets.

Follow Rutgers women's volleyball on Facebook, X and Instagram.

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