Friday, October 9
Piscataway, N.J.
7:00 PM
Rutgers
vs
Minnesota
Photo by: Mike Lawrence
Volleyball Homestand Continues With #21 Minnesota & RV UCLA
Oct 07 | Women's Volleyball
PISCATAWAY, N.J.Ā ā Rutgers volleyball's homestand continues this weekend with #17 Minnesota on Friday, Oct. 9 and RV UCLA on Saturday, Oct. 10. Both matches serve up action starting at 7 p.m. at Jersey Mike's Arena.
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Rally-Era Career
Rally-Era Season
Take a look at the climb during the Caitlin Schweihofer Era of Rutgers volleyball.
- 2026 -
Rutgers entered Big Ten action with a 9-3 nonconference record for the second-straight season, tying for the most nonconference victories of the Caitlin Schweihofer Era. During nonconference action, Zharia Harris WaddyĀ hit .833 (10-0-12) against Rider to set a new Rutgers record in hitting percentage, besting the previous Rutgers mark of .700 (14-0-20) in a 3-0 win over Cleveland St. on Sept. 10, 2016 by Lauren Cloyd.Ā RU also completed its first reverse sweep since 2022 in a 3-2 win Bryant. The Scarlet Knights opened conference play at #1 Nebraska in its closest match with the Cornhuskers since 2021.Ā Rutgers hit .318 in the first set against a Nebraska defense that was only allowing opponents to hit a nationwide low .081. In the second set, the Scarlet Knights turned a 23-13 deficit into a 9-1 run and thwarted set point four times. RU also topped Ohio State on the road in a sweep for the second-straight season and took a set off #15 Indiana, marking the first set win over a top 25 opponent since 2023 and first set win over a top 15 opponent since 2021.
- 2025 -
Rutgers surpassed its win total from the previous season nine games into the year, fueled by a seven-match win streak, the longest for the squad since 2012. The Scarlet Knights collected sweeps in six of the seven games. Against the Red Flash, RU swung .456, marking the best hitting percentage by the Scarlet Knights in a rally-era match. In nonconference action, RU played to a 9-3 mark with seven sweeps and a 4-0 home mark. In Big Ten action, the Scarlet Knights set not only a school record for attendance, but the 8,000 to witness the Scarlet Knights take on No. 1 Nebraska at Jersey Mike's Arena marked the largest crowd to watch a volleyball match in the state of New Jersey. RU also picked up its first-ever Big Ten win over Ohio State as the sweep marked the most by the program since 2000 and the first time in either Big East or Big Ten play that the Scarlet Knights have held an opponent to under 20 in a match. At the end of the 2025 season, Rutgers had captured the best hitting percentage and most aces of any team during the rally era and had Lexi Visintine set the rally-era season record in aces, becoming only the second Scarlet Knight of the rally era with over 100 career aces. In Big Ten action, the Scarlet Knights posted the most assists and aces in a season since joining the league, with Lily Bolen averaging the most assists per set in a Big Ten season. Additional season stat notables included Visinstine with the most aces since 1988, Aspen Maxwell with the most kills per set since 2009, Natalie Robinson with the best hitting percentage since 2011, Bolen with the most assists and assists per set since 2012, and Maxwell with the most kills since 2013.
- 2024 -
A youthful Scarlet Knight squad continued to rewrite the Rutgers record book, putting up several notable career and season numbers as the Big Ten expanded to the West Coast. On the attack, Alissa Kinkela, the squad's first-ever All-Big Ten attacker from 2023 and an Australian Olympic hopeful, cracked the top 10 all-time in career kills, the second most rally-era career kills and the third most rally-era career kills per set. Following the season, Kinkela signed to play professionally in South Korea. In addition to Kinkela's mark in the record book, Rutgers put nine entries into the rally-era individual season top 10 records, with a new benchmark set for blocks in a rally-era season from rookie Natalie Robinson. Ā At the same time, junior Lexi Visintine was just two aces shy of setting a new season standard in the category.
- 2023 -
More milestones continued for the Scarlet Knight program in 2023. The team was honored with its first-ever All-Big Ten attacker, captured the most wins and best nonconference record since 2012, improved its set win total by 45% over the previous season and set a school record in attendance. The Scarlet Knights collected the most kills and digs as a program since 2012, the highest serve percentage since 2016 and the most assists since 2018. Alissa Kinkela, who led the team in kills, was named Second Team All-Big Ten. The Scarlet Knights placed 12 entries into the rally-era individual season top 10 records, 13 entries into the rally-era team top 10 records, while collecting the most sets played, kills, assists, assists per set, digs and solo blocks by a team in conference play since joining the Big Ten in 2014. Senior libero Madyson Chitty finished her career fifth all-time in career digs and senior middle blocker Kristina Grkovic concluded her career fifth all-time in hitting percentage while setting the rally-era record for solo blocks in a season and career. Rutgers improved its attendance by 50% while setting a program record of 6,757 in attendance at Jersey Mike's Arena when facing No. 1 Nebraska on Nov. 5. Additionally, head coach Caitlin Schweihofer registered her 100th career victory.
- 2022 -
The fall of 2022 saw RU 3-0 for the first time since 1998, with four Scarlet Knights named to All-Tournament squads. By the season's end, Rutgers had 11 entries on the rally-era season leaders list, including tying the record for most kills in a rally-era three-set match and graduate student transfer Megan Vernon, who wrapped up her career ranked second in the rally era in solo blocks in only two seasons as a Scarlet Knight.
- 2021 -
The second season of the Caitlin Schweihofer era saw the Scarlet Knights move a majority of its home games to Jersey Mike's Arena (formerly known as The RAC), playing members of the nation's top conference in the 8,000-seat arena. Rutgers captured set wins over #8 Purdue and #15 Penn State and took Illinois to five sets in front of a national audience on BTN.Ā
- SPRING 2021 -
In Caitlin Schweihofer's first season "On The Banks", played in the spring due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights established themselves as a program on the rise with numerous program and Big Ten firsts. Among the Scarlet Knights' spring 2021 accomplishments were the first-ever All-Big Ten honoree, the first-ever home-opening Big Ten victory, the first-ever Big Ten series sweep, set victories over more than one Top 10 program, along with the team's first-ever wins over Indiana and Michigan State. RU established new team, season and match records for aces, reset program Big Ten game bests in kills, attempts, attack percentage and assists and collected individual conference superlatives in attack percentage, assists and digs.
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Follow Rutgers women's volleyball onĀ Facebook,Ā XĀ andĀ Instagram.
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| MATCH DAY INFO |
| Venue: | Jersey Mike's Arena - Piscataway, N.J. |
| Tickets:Ā | Rutgers Volleyball Ticket Central |
| Parking: | Green & Yellow Lots -Ā Parking Registration Link Coming Soon |
| Minnesota Match Promos: | * Youth/Camper Night * Flash Sale Tickets |
| UCLA Match Promos: | * Big Ten Discover Volleyball Challenge * Scarlet OutĀ * Post Match Autographs on concourse * Flash Sale Tickets |
| Game Notes: | RutgersĀ | Minnesota | UCLA |
| Statistics: | Rutgers | Minnesota | UCLAĀ |Ā Big Ten |
| Schedule: | Friday, Oct. 9 vs. #21 Minnesota - 7:00 p.m. (ET) Video (BTN+) |Ā Live Stats Saturday, Oct. 10 vs. RV UCLA - 7:00 p.m. (ET) Video (BTN+) |Ā Live Stats Ā |
| Social Media: | Facebook | XĀ | Instagram |
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| ABOUT THE SCARLET KNIGHTS |
- Rutgers went 1-1 last week, which includedĀ itsĀ first Big Ten victory of the season and taking a set off a top 25 opponent. RUĀ swept Ohio State at the Covelli Center for a second-straight year, topping the Buckeyes 25-21, 25-14, 25-23, while the Scarlet Knights fell to #15 Indiana, 3-1, but managed to takeĀ a set off a top 25 opponent for the first time since 2023 and a set off a top 15 program for the first time since 2021.
- Malia Romes was named Freshman of the Week byĀ Women's College Volleyball Nerdz,Ā after totaling 27 kills, including a career-high 16 versus the nationally-ranked Hoosiers, averaging 3.88 per set, while swinging .571 with seven total blocks.Ā Ā
- Entering the week, Rutgers is among the top three in the league in team assists, team kills, team service aces, team total attack and team total blocks, while individually Karis Willow leads the conference in aces per set,and total aces, Kenzie Dyrstad checks in second in total digs and Lily Bolen ranks third in total aces. Nationally, Willow is ninth with 0.65 aces per frame.
- Romes leads the offense with 2.67Ā kills per frame followed byĀ Skylar George at 2.50Ā kills per set. George, who in addition to her career-high 22 against Bryant in the final nonconference week, posted a pair of double-doubles with 22 kills and 15 digs vs. the BulldogsĀ and 13 kills and 14 digs against St. John's. Romes, meanwhile, has reached double-digit kills in 10Ā of RU's 16Ā matches.
- Setting up the attack are Brooke Baldwin at 5.61Ā assists per set and Lily Bolen atĀ 5.33Ā helpers per frame.
- Bolen is also a Scarlet Knight to watch at the service line and is nearing the 100 career ace mark. Bolen has 26Ā aces to her credit this season, including five served up against Bellarmine and LIU. She is fiveĀ aces away from becoming the third Scarlet Knight of the rally era with 100 or more aces in a career. RU will also look to Karis Willow, who has a Big Ten-leading 30Ā aces to date, including seven served up against Bellarmine. As a team, Rutgers has served up a Big Ten-leading 121 on the season.
- Defensively, Imani Howell leads the block with 68Ā total stops, 14Ā solo blocks and 1.28Ā rejections per set. Howell capturedĀ nine blocks in RU's finalĀ nonconference outing, a 3-2 win at St. John's, and currently ranks second on Rutgers rally-era season blocks per set list.
- RU will also look to Kenzie Dyrstad onĀ defense with her 3.85Ā digs per set. She has led RU in the category in all but one match this season and leads the Big Ten with 227 total digs.Ā Ā Ā Ā
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| SCOUTING MINNESOTA |
- The Golden Gophers comeĀ to New Jersey at 7-5Ā overall and 1-3 in conference action and ranked at #21 in the AVCA Top 25 Poll. After 3-1 losses at Illinois and at home versus Oregon to open up conference action two weeks ago, MinnesotaĀ picked up a sweep on Northwestern last Thursday night before a 3-1 loss to Wisconsin on Sunday.
- Minnesota is led on the attack by McKenna Wecherer with a Big Ten-leading 4.72 kills per set and 5.65 points collected per set, along withĀ a team-leading 28 aces. Nationally, Wecherer is third in points per set,Ā fourth in kills per set and ninth in aces per set,Ā Ā Wecherer is second in the Big Ten in aces behind RU's Karis Willow.Ā She is also second on the squad with 2.42 digs per frame and has totaled 24 blocks.
- The offense is set up primarily by Stella Swnson, who checks in with 10.70 assists per set.
- On defense, the Golden Gophers will look to Elena Hoecke with 42 blocks, averaging 1.00 per set, and Zeynep Palabiyik with 3.98 digs per set, checking into the week third in the Big Ten in the category.
| SCOUTING UCLA |
- The Bruins enter the week at 11-4 overall and 2-2 in Big Ten play and receiving votes in the AVCA Top 25 Poll. UCLA will meet Maryland in College Park on Friday night before making their way to New Jersey.
- On the stat sheet, UCLA is led on the attack by Maggie Li with 3.12 kills per set with Kate Duffey putting up 10.16 assists per set and Ava Sarafa contributing 7.67 per frame. At the service line, Lola Schumacher leads the Bruins with 13 aces.
- At the net, UCLA will look to the Big Ten leader in blocks in Marianna Singletary with 84 total stops. HerĀ 1.68 rejections per set puts her third nationally. Additionally, Schumacher is coming up withĀ 3.88 digs per set.Ā Ā
| BIG TEN DISCOVER VOLLEYBALL CHALLENGE |
- The Big Ten Conference and Big Ten Network have announced the second year of the Discover In-Season Volleyball Challenge.Ā
- Weekend (Saturday/Sunday) conference matches played October 3 ā November 1 will count toward the Discover In-Season Volleyball Challenge, with each team playing five designated challenge matches throughout the month, with the winner determined by the highest win total across the five matches. Tiebreaking procedures will be utilized in the event two or more teams have the same win total.
- Rutgers' challenge games include:
- Sunday, Oct. 4 - vs. Indiana - 2 p.m. - B1G+
- Saturday, Oct. 10 - vs.Ā UCLA - 7 p.m. - B1G+
- Sunday, Oct. 18 - at Oregon - 4 p.mĀ -Ā BTN
- Saturday, Oct. 24 - vs.Ā Illinois - 7 p.m.Ā - B1G+
- Saturday, Oct. 31 - at Northwestern - 8 p.m.Ā - B1G+
| STAT NOTABLE WATCH |
Rally-Era Career
- Lily Bolen needs fiveĀ more to pass Inna Balyko (2018-21) for third. She currently has 95Ā career aces.
- Lily Bolen needs 40Ā more assists to climb to third in rally-era career assists past Anna Sudbury (2012-15). She currently has 1,676Ā career assists.
- Natalie Robinson needs threeĀ more solo blocks to move into fourth in rally-era career solo blocks, surpassing Mikaela Mattherws (2012-16). She currently has 33Ā career solo blocks.Ā
- Natalie Robinson needs fiveĀ blocks to move into seventhĀ on the rally-era career total blocks list, past Alex Jones (2009-12).Ā She currently has 246Ā career total blocks.
- Natalie Robinson needs nineĀ more block assistsĀ to move into seventhĀ on the rally-era career block assist list, past Alex Jones (2009-12). She currently has 212Ā career block assists.
- Kenzie Dyrstad needs sevenĀ more digs to enter the rally-era top 10. She currently has 706Ā career digs.
- Aspen Maxwell needs 172Ā points to enter the rally-era career points top ten. She currently has 585.5Ā points in her career.
Rally-Era Season
- Karis Willow needs two more aces to join the rally-era season top 10 list. She currently has 30 aces on the season
- Lily Bolen needs sixĀ more aces to join the rally-era season top 10 list for a second time. She currently has 26Ā aces on the season. Her 38 aces as a sophomore in 2025 areĀ third on the list.
- Imani Howell needs two more solo blocks to move into sixthĀ in rally-era season solo blocks past Kristina Grkovic (2022). She currently has 14Ā solo stops on the season.
- Natalie Robinson needs three more solo blocks to move into 10th in the rally-era season solo blocks. She currently has nine solo stops. Robinson already appears twice on the list at tenth with 12 stops in 2025 and eighth with 13 solo blocks in 2024.Ā
| RUTGERS ON THE RISE |
Take a look at the climb during the Caitlin Schweihofer Era of Rutgers volleyball.
- 2026 -
Rutgers entered Big Ten action with a 9-3 nonconference record for the second-straight season, tying for the most nonconference victories of the Caitlin Schweihofer Era. During nonconference action, Zharia Harris WaddyĀ hit .833 (10-0-12) against Rider to set a new Rutgers record in hitting percentage, besting the previous Rutgers mark of .700 (14-0-20) in a 3-0 win over Cleveland St. on Sept. 10, 2016 by Lauren Cloyd.Ā RU also completed its first reverse sweep since 2022 in a 3-2 win Bryant. The Scarlet Knights opened conference play at #1 Nebraska in its closest match with the Cornhuskers since 2021.Ā Rutgers hit .318 in the first set against a Nebraska defense that was only allowing opponents to hit a nationwide low .081. In the second set, the Scarlet Knights turned a 23-13 deficit into a 9-1 run and thwarted set point four times. RU also topped Ohio State on the road in a sweep for the second-straight season and took a set off #15 Indiana, marking the first set win over a top 25 opponent since 2023 and first set win over a top 15 opponent since 2021.
- 2025 -
Rutgers surpassed its win total from the previous season nine games into the year, fueled by a seven-match win streak, the longest for the squad since 2012. The Scarlet Knights collected sweeps in six of the seven games. Against the Red Flash, RU swung .456, marking the best hitting percentage by the Scarlet Knights in a rally-era match. In nonconference action, RU played to a 9-3 mark with seven sweeps and a 4-0 home mark. In Big Ten action, the Scarlet Knights set not only a school record for attendance, but the 8,000 to witness the Scarlet Knights take on No. 1 Nebraska at Jersey Mike's Arena marked the largest crowd to watch a volleyball match in the state of New Jersey. RU also picked up its first-ever Big Ten win over Ohio State as the sweep marked the most by the program since 2000 and the first time in either Big East or Big Ten play that the Scarlet Knights have held an opponent to under 20 in a match. At the end of the 2025 season, Rutgers had captured the best hitting percentage and most aces of any team during the rally era and had Lexi Visintine set the rally-era season record in aces, becoming only the second Scarlet Knight of the rally era with over 100 career aces. In Big Ten action, the Scarlet Knights posted the most assists and aces in a season since joining the league, with Lily Bolen averaging the most assists per set in a Big Ten season. Additional season stat notables included Visinstine with the most aces since 1988, Aspen Maxwell with the most kills per set since 2009, Natalie Robinson with the best hitting percentage since 2011, Bolen with the most assists and assists per set since 2012, and Maxwell with the most kills since 2013.
- 2024 -
A youthful Scarlet Knight squad continued to rewrite the Rutgers record book, putting up several notable career and season numbers as the Big Ten expanded to the West Coast. On the attack, Alissa Kinkela, the squad's first-ever All-Big Ten attacker from 2023 and an Australian Olympic hopeful, cracked the top 10 all-time in career kills, the second most rally-era career kills and the third most rally-era career kills per set. Following the season, Kinkela signed to play professionally in South Korea. In addition to Kinkela's mark in the record book, Rutgers put nine entries into the rally-era individual season top 10 records, with a new benchmark set for blocks in a rally-era season from rookie Natalie Robinson. Ā At the same time, junior Lexi Visintine was just two aces shy of setting a new season standard in the category.
- 2023 -
More milestones continued for the Scarlet Knight program in 2023. The team was honored with its first-ever All-Big Ten attacker, captured the most wins and best nonconference record since 2012, improved its set win total by 45% over the previous season and set a school record in attendance. The Scarlet Knights collected the most kills and digs as a program since 2012, the highest serve percentage since 2016 and the most assists since 2018. Alissa Kinkela, who led the team in kills, was named Second Team All-Big Ten. The Scarlet Knights placed 12 entries into the rally-era individual season top 10 records, 13 entries into the rally-era team top 10 records, while collecting the most sets played, kills, assists, assists per set, digs and solo blocks by a team in conference play since joining the Big Ten in 2014. Senior libero Madyson Chitty finished her career fifth all-time in career digs and senior middle blocker Kristina Grkovic concluded her career fifth all-time in hitting percentage while setting the rally-era record for solo blocks in a season and career. Rutgers improved its attendance by 50% while setting a program record of 6,757 in attendance at Jersey Mike's Arena when facing No. 1 Nebraska on Nov. 5. Additionally, head coach Caitlin Schweihofer registered her 100th career victory.
- 2022 -
The fall of 2022 saw RU 3-0 for the first time since 1998, with four Scarlet Knights named to All-Tournament squads. By the season's end, Rutgers had 11 entries on the rally-era season leaders list, including tying the record for most kills in a rally-era three-set match and graduate student transfer Megan Vernon, who wrapped up her career ranked second in the rally era in solo blocks in only two seasons as a Scarlet Knight.
- 2021 -
The second season of the Caitlin Schweihofer era saw the Scarlet Knights move a majority of its home games to Jersey Mike's Arena (formerly known as The RAC), playing members of the nation's top conference in the 8,000-seat arena. Rutgers captured set wins over #8 Purdue and #15 Penn State and took Illinois to five sets in front of a national audience on BTN.Ā
- SPRING 2021 -
In Caitlin Schweihofer's first season "On The Banks", played in the spring due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights established themselves as a program on the rise with numerous program and Big Ten firsts. Among the Scarlet Knights' spring 2021 accomplishments were the first-ever All-Big Ten honoree, the first-ever home-opening Big Ten victory, the first-ever Big Ten series sweep, set victories over more than one Top 10 program, along with the team's first-ever wins over Indiana and Michigan State. RU established new team, season and match records for aces, reset program Big Ten game bests in kills, attempts, attack percentage and assists and collected individual conference superlatives in attack percentage, assists and digs.
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| SISTER-SISTER |
- Nebraska natives Kenzie and Kami Dyrstad are among the 10 teams featuring siblings in the same program.Ā
| School | Sister #1 | Sister #2 |
| Rutgers | Kenzie Dyrstad (senior - L/DS) | Kami Dyrstad (freshman - L/DS) |
| St. John's | Kya Harris (junior - MB) | Sumaiyya Harris (freshman - MB/OPP) |
| Fresno State | Olivia Lombardi (r-junior - L) | Gabby Lombardi (r-sophomore S) |
| IU Indy | Kate White (senior - OPP) | Lauren White (freshman- S) |
| Louisiana Tech | Anaya Hairston (senior - MB) | Gabrielle Hairston (junior - OH/RS) |
| Montana | Sydney Pierce (junior - MB) | Brooklyn Pierce (freshman - MB) |
| Northern Iowa | Molly Shafer (sophomore - OH/OPP) | Kate Shafer (sophomore - S) |
| Niagara | Chloe Moreland (sophomore - OH) | Ashley Moreland (freshman - L/DS) |
| Rice | Arissa Smith (senior - MB) | Aaliyah Smith (sophomore - OH) |
| Virginia | Sarah Brodner (junior - OH/RS) | Ella Brodner (freshman - OH/RS) |
| SCHEDULE UPDATE |
- Rutgers' match with nationally-ranked USC on Saturday, Nov. 7 has been moved to a 1 p.m. start.
| 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.Ā Ā Click here to purchase tickets.Ā Ā
Follow Rutgers women's volleyball onĀ Facebook,Ā XĀ andĀ Instagram.
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Players Mentioned
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/ Women's VolleyballSunday, October 04
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