FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Rutgers made it back-to-back sweeps as they took down the host of the Sacred Heart Invitational, 25-18, 25-17, 25-16, at the William H. Pitt Athletic & Convocation Center on Saturday evening.

Rutgers, coming off a 3-0 victory over Dartmouth on Friday, improved to 3-2 on the year. Sacred Heart, meanwhile, dropped to 1-4.







 

• Senior Tara Garvey had a match-high 10 kills and swung .467 for her first double-figure outing as a Scarlet Knight.
• Sophomore Aspen Maxwell added nine kills and five blocks.
• Both junior Zora Hardison and senior Lexi Visintine contributed seven kills, hitting over .300.
• Hardison also led RU at the net with a career-high nine blocks. She bested her previous mark of eight stops last set against Northwestern in a Big Ten road win last season. Hardison also tied her career mark with three solo rejections for a third time. 
• The Scarlet Knights served up seven aces on the night, led by a trio coming from sophomore Lily Bolen. The setter also logged 26 helpers and eight digs.
• Sophomore Alleigh Dutton came away with a game-high 17 digs.

• SET 1 (25-18) | It was a back-and-forth affair early, but with the score tied at 8-8, RU proceeded on a 7-1 run and would never relinquish the lead. The Scarlet Knights served up a trio of aces early in the frame, including one from Bolen that caused the Pioneers to take time with RU 11-8. Lexi Visintine also served up a pair of aces during the burst. The hosts, however, came back to knot the score at 15-15 behind a 6-1 run. Aspen Maxwell promptly put RU back into the lead with one of her five kills of the frame and an ace as the Scarlet Knights closed outscoring the Pioneers, 10-3.

• SET 2 (25-17) | The Scarlet Knights continued to roll, leading wire to wire. Tara Garvey led the attack with four kills while Zora Hardison went up for four blocks to lead RU to the 2-0 match advantage. Rutgers kicked off the stanza leading 10-5 and from there never let Sacred Heart any closer than four.  

• SET 3 (25-16) | Even at 10-10, RU produced a 10-4 run and never looked back. The Pioneers ended the set hitting in the negative with seven team kills and eight errors to swing -.031. The Scarlet Knights, meanwhile, had Hardison, Visintine and Garvey all collect a trio of kills, while defensively six different members of the Rutgers roster registered a stop led by Maxwell's three blocks.

• The Rutgers volleyball team closes out the Sacred Heart Invitational on Sunday, Sept. 7 at 1 p.m. against LIU.