Volleyball Does Battle With RV UCLA In 3-1 Loss

Saturday, October 10

Piscataway, N.J.

7:00 PM

Rutgers

10-8,1-5Big Ten

UCLA

13-4,4-2Big Ten

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
UCLA	25	25	29	25	3
Rutgers	15	12	31	22	1

Box Score (PDF)

Karis Willow takes a swing on RV UCLA at Jersey Mike's Arena

Photo by: Anna Griffin

Volleyball Does Battle With RV UCLA In 3-1 Loss

Oct 10 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score Photo Gallery

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers volleyball took another frame from a team featuring the AVCA Poll in a 3-1 loss to UCLA, a squad receiving votes, on Saturday night at Jersey Mike's Arena.

The Scarlet Knights dropped the first two sets 25-15 and 25-12, but came back for a 31-29 win in a marathon third set. The fourth set saw six ties and the score knotted at 22-22 before UCLA pulled out the win, 25-22.

Rutgers fell to 10-8 overall and 1-5 in the Big Ten, while UCLA climbed to 13-4 overall and 4-2 in league action.

STANDOUT STATS

Karis Willow recorded 13 kills in taking the court in the third and fourth set. She hit .500 with only two miscues on 22 attempts and added two blocks.
Lily Bolen notched 27 assists to move into the top three in rally-era career assists at Rutgers. To date, she has amassed 1729 career helpers. Brooke Baldwin contributed 13 helpers.
Alleigh Dutton, in the libero jersey, joined Bolen with a team-high eight digs along with an ace.
Imani Howell led the block with four stops. Her lone solo block put her in sole possession of sixth on the rally-era season leaders list with 16 and is now one solo stop away from joining the rally-era career top 10.

KEY MOMENTS

SET 1 (15-25) | After six ties through the first half of the opening frame, UCLA used an 11-3 outburst in the second half for the win. Rutgers was hampered by a match-high 5.5 blocks from the Bruins, who hit .348. Addison Wiemann punched in three kills.

SET 2 (12-25) | UCLA hit a match-best .444 with only one error on 27 swings, added 5.0 blocks to its stat line and never let the Scarlet Knights collect back-to-back points. The Bruins opened on an 8-3 run and closed outscoring RU 7-2.

SET 3 (31-29) | The marathon set electrified the Jersey Mike's Arena crowd as the Scarlet Knights powered back after the break. Tied at 9-9, Rutgers delivered a 5-1 run, capped on an ace by Alleigh Dutton, to take the lead. A swing from Avery Jesewitz put RU at set point up 24-21, when the Bruins collected the next three points for the first of five ties down the stretch. A swing from Imani Howell set up another opportunity for the Knights to take the set, but UCLA came back with a kill from Eliana Urzua, setting up the Bruins for their first chance at taking the frame following an ace from Mija Bendziute at 27-26. Bendziute, however, followed with a serve into the net. Karis Willow delivered a kill to knot the score at 28-28, but UCLA's Maggie Li on the attack put her squad back at set point, leading 29-28. Malia Romes, Zharia Harris-Waddy and Karis Willow all came up with the crucial kills to close out the set for the Scarlet Knights. Altogether, the set saw 15 ties and the lead change hands six times. Willow hit .582 and delivered eight kills on 13 swings with one error.

S3 | Got It ✔️ 📺: https://t.co/FFSxpqdEDO (B1G+) 📊: https://t.co/CUjzfGyL1o #GoRU ⚔️ https://t.co/5S1sQiYeXT
— Rutgers Volleyball (@RUvball) October 11, 2026

SET 4 (22-25) | An 11-5 start for the Bruins eventually resulted in six ties and a pair of lead changes. An 8-2 Rutgers run put the Scarlet Knights ahead 19-18, and a kill from Karis Willow saw RU up 21-20. A Bruin service error evened the frame at 22-22, but Li collected three-straight kills for UCLA to pull out the win. RU saw crucial blocks come from the hands of Willow, Harris-Waddy and Howell down the stretch and Willow posted five kills to swing .444 in the frame.

UP NEXT

Rutgers volleyball makes its way to the West Coast to meet #20 Washington on Friday, Oct. 16, at 10 p.m. (ET) and #13 Oregon on Sunday, Oct. 16, at 4 p.m. (ET) on BTN.
The Scarlet Knights return home to host #22 Michigan State on Friday, Oct. 23 at 7 p.m. and #23 Illinois on Saturday, Oct. 24 at 7 p.m. Click here to purchase tickets.

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