BUFFALO, N.Y. – Rutgers volleyball took the first two sets, 30-28 and 25-15, against Liberty on Saturday evening at Alumni Arena, but the Flames came back with 25-18, 25-16 and 15-12 set wins to hand the Scarlet Knights the loss in five.
Liberty improved to 3-0 while Rutgers dropped to 1-1 on the year.
- Double-doubles were secured by sophomores Aspen Maxwell and Lily Bolen. Maxwell captured her first career double-double with a game-high 20 kills and 12 digs. Bolen posted her second straight double-double behind a career-high 51 assists and 10 digs.
- Maxwell was one of three Scarlet Knights with double-digit kills with junior Zora Hardison and senior Lexi Visintine each collecting 13 kills. Hardison finished the match swinging .478 with only two errors on 23 swings.
- At the service line, Visintine led RU with four aces.
- Defensively, sophomore Alleigh Dutton recorded a career-high 17 digs to lead both teams in the category.
- At the net, Hardison came up with seven total blocks and tied her career-high with three solo stops. She also had three solo stops at Iowa back on Oct. 27, 2023.
- SET 1 (30-28) | Rutgers trailed 22-17 but came back to force extra volleyball in the opening frame. A 5-0 spurt from the Scarlet Knights, including two of Aspen Maxwell's seven kills in the set, knotted the score for the first of seven occasions down the stretch. Liberty had a chance at taking the set twice, but service errors from the Flames while up 25-24 and 28-27 kept RU alive. A swing from Visintine tied the frame up for the final time, while a Maxwell kill wrapped up the set.
- SET 2 (25-15) | Down 8-4 to start, Rutgers grinded out a 15-3 run to take control of the second set. The Scarlet Knights hit a match best .552 with Maxwell and Hardison combining for 10 kills on 14 swings with no errors.
- SET 3 (18-25) | Visintine gave RU a 6-5 edge, but Liberty came back with four unanswered to take the lead and stay ahead. Another Visintine kill had the Scarlet Knights trailing 15-12, but ultimately the Flames would not allow Rutgers to get any closer. Visintine and Maxwell led RU with three kills each.
- SET 4 (16-25) | Liberty led the entire frame. RU had a surge late, scoring six of seven and forced the Flames to play for set point four times.
- SET 5 (12-15) | The Flames went out to a 10-5 advantage and stayed in front. RU whittled its deficit down to two three times. The Scarlet Knights put together three straight thanks in part to a kill and block from Visintine to trail 11-9, a Liberty miscue on the attack saw RU down 12-10 and a Jenna DeLaMater ace kept Rutgers alive at 14-12. The Flames, however, served up an ace for match point.
- Rutgers volleyball closes out opening weekend on Sunday, Aug. 31, against host Buffalo at 1 p.m.
Follow Rutgers women's volleyball on
Facebook,
X and
Instagram.
- RU -
