Rutgers Continues Home Stand Against Northwestern, Illinois

Press Release courtesy of Rutgers Athletics.

The Scarlet Knights host the second half of a four-match Big Ten home stand against Northwestern on Friday, Sept. 29 at 7 p.m. and Illinois, who is receiving votes in the latest AVCA Top 25 Poll, on Sunday, Oct. 1 at 12 p.m. Both matches will be streamed live on BTN2GO.com with a BTN+ subscription.

KNIGHT NOTES
• Rutgers started Big Ten play 0-2 with straight-set losses to Iowa and No. 14 Nebraska in the College Ave. Gym last weekend.
• Kamila Cieslik has made an immediate impact and currently ranks near the top of all Big Ten players in hitting. The Rutgers rookie is ranked 12th this week in the B1G with 3.27 kills/set. Cieslik was named to three All-Tournament Teams this preseason, including an MVP performance at the ECU Invitational. She made the Seton Hall Classic All-Tourrnament Team with 3.67 kills/set on a .424 hitting percentage, four service aces, 14 digs and eight blocks. She was also named to the Kangaroo Klassic All-Tournament Team with 21 kills, seven blocks and 18 digs. She served up at least one ace per match over that stretch with four total.
• Stepping into a starting role playing a new position, sophomore outside hitter Jillian Duffin has provided returns for those decisions over RU’s last five matches. Duffin has 2.59 kills/set over that span while breaking double-figures in three of those contests. She produced 10 kills against the now-ranked No. 8 team in the nation, Nebraska, on Saturday, while also throwing down three blocks to give her eight total stuffs over her first five matches of the year.
• Junior Sahbria McLetchie is Rutgers’ top outside hitter with 2.77 kills/set. In back-to-back matches against Buffalo and Seton Hall, she recorded 17 and 19 kills, respectively, before picking up a total of 15 against Iowa and No. 14 Nebraska during Big Ten opening weekend.
• Sophomore setter Megan Sharkey is approaching two milestones. With 940 career assists, she is 60 away from 1,000 and 122 from cracking the Top 10 in all-time career assists in program history.
• Sophomore Jasmine Stackhouse leads the Scarlet Knights at the net defensively with 1.02 blocks/set, while sophomore libero Karysa Swackenberg paces the backline with 2.90 digs/set.
• The service line will continue to loom important for Rutgers, who ranks fifth in the Big Ten with 1.52 service aces per set. Cieslik leads the team in the ace department with 22 aces, which ranks second overall in the conference. Rutgers is 5-1 when out-acing an opponent, and 0-7 when it does not.

SERIES AT A GLANCE
• Northwestern has beaten Rutgers in all three of their all-time meetings since RU joined the Big Ten in 2014. In the 2016 season finale, the Wildcats edged the Scarlet Knights 25-23 in Sets 2 and 3 to win 3-0 in the College Ave. Gym.
• Illinois is 7-1 all-time against Rutgers, including a 6-0 mark in the Big Ten since 2014. Rutgers’ win came via five sets in 1981. The Fighting Illini have taken two from Rutgers in each season over the last three years without dropping a set.

COACHES
• Northwestern is guided by head coach Shane Davis in his second season with a record of 20-26. Overall, Davis is in his 14th season as a head volleyball coach sporting a record of 285-114.
• Illinois is led by first-year head coach Chris Tamas, who has led the Illini to an 11-2 record while garnering votes in the AVCA Top 25 poll.

SCOUTING NORTHWESTERN (10-4, 0-2 Big Ten)
• Northwestern posted a 10-2 non-conference record before dropping its first two Big Ten matches to No. 13 Purdue and (rv) Illinois in straight sets.
•  NU is most dangerous on the service line, where they lead the Big Ten and rank 11th in the nation with 1.77 aces/set. Northwestern has five players with double-digit aces through 14 matches.
• The Wildcats’ .271 attack percentage is paced by senior middle blocker Gabrielle Hazen, who hits .404 with 2.47 kills/set. She also ranks in the Top 100 nationally with her 1.17 blocks/set.
• Senior outside hitter Symone Abbott is on a journey climbing up the Wildcat record book in career kills. With a match-high 13 kills in a loss to Illinois last weekend, Abbott moved into eighth place at NU with 1,417 kills. The senior averages 4.37 kills/set, which ranks second in the Big Ten and 27th in the NCAA.
• Senior setter Taylor Tashima comes in at fourth in the Big Ten and 14th nationally with 11.51 assists per set.

SCOUTING ILLINOIS (11-2, 2-0 Big Ten)
• Illinois has been receiving votes in the AVCA Top 25 Poll every week since Sept. 4. The Illini come into New Brunswick winners of five straight, including their first two Big Ten wins of the year at Indiana and at Northwestern.
• Illinois has had two Big Ten Defensive Players of the Week with Ali Bastianelli taking the Aug. 28 honor and Brandi Donnelly claiming the plaudit on Sept. 18. Bastianelli is currently the national block leader with 1.90/set, while also hitting at a .491 clip, good for fourth in the NCAA. Donnelly has 4.24 digs/set to lead Illinois’ backline.
• The Illini rank in the Top 25 nationally in three teaem statistical categories, coming in at third in blocking with 3.29/set, eighth in hitting percentage at .311 and 19th in opponents’ hitting percentage at .149.
• Sophomore outside hitter Jacqueline Quade leads the team with the Big Ten’s fifth best kills/set mark of .3.76.
• Junior Jordyn Poulter is the nation’s 26th most proficient setter with 11.20 assists/set, which also ranks seventh in the Big Ten.

LAST TIME OUT
Rutgers fell in straight sets to No. 14 Nebraska (25-15, 25-20, 25-11) on Saturday evening in the College Ave. Gym. The Huskers (9-3, 2-0 Big Ten) defeated the Scarlet Knights (5-9, 0-2) one night after handing No. 2 Penn State its first straight-set loss in State College since 2003. Outside hitters Duffin and McLetchie led the Rutgers’ offense throughout the evening with 10 and eight kills, respectively. Sharkey dished out 24 assists, while the RU defense was aided by McLetchie’s team-high 11 digs and sophomore middle blocker Stasa Miljevic‘s four blocks.

Rutgers dropped the 2017 Big Ten opener against Iowa on Friday evening in straight sets by scores of 25-17, 25-16, 25-14. The Hawkeyes are now off to their best start to a season since 1994, and they did it on Friday by winning the hitting game over Rutgers. Iowa posted a .313 attack percentage compared to the Scarlet Knights’ .012 mark. For the 10th time in 13 games this season, freshman opposite hitter Kamila Cieslik led Rutgers in kills. She recorded nine kills to go with two service aces and six digs.

FLOORED
Rutgers volleyball debuted its brand new Taraflex playing surface at the College Ave. Gym upon the opening of 2017 Big Ten play against Iowa on Friday evening.

With the floor’s installation, the Scarlet Knights become one of just 26 NCAA Division I programs to utilize Gerflor USA’s Taraflex floor, the exact surface used at the last 11 Summer Olympic Games. The portable Taraflex floor at Rutgers, featuring RU’s signature colors, fonts and logos, is the only one of its kind among collegiate programs in the Northeast region and one of just nine to be used by a Power 5 institution across the nation.

B1G CHALLENGE
With Big Ten play beginning, a gauntlet of nationally ranked talent awaits. The preseason American Volleyball Coaches Association Top 25 rankings included eight programs from the Big Ten, including four in the Top 10.

Currently ranked programs include No. 3 Minnesota, No. 3 Penn State, No. 7 Wisconsin, No. 8 Nebraska, No. 16 Michigan State, No. 19 Purdue and No. 23 Michigan. Rutgers hosts Nebraska, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Ohio State, Purdue and Penn State – all of which were ranked in the Preseason Top 25 – this season in the College Ave. Gym.

NATIONAL EXPOSURE
Rutgers will play twice on national television this season. Tune into the Big Ten Network on Friday, Oct. 6 at 6 p.m. for a match at Maryland, and on Friday, Oct. 20 at 6 p.m. for a trip to Indiana.

AROUND THE WORLD
The Scarlet Knights’ roster represents nine states, including California, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, New Jersey, Tennessee and Texas. California and Texas lead the way with two roster entries apiece. RU also has international representation with a total of five players from Israel, Puerto Rico, Serbia or Russia.

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