Rutgers!
The Scarlet Knights won just the fourth Big Ten match in the history of the program Friday when they beat visiting Indiana for the first time after 12 tries.
“To have the opportunity to play and win on our home court for my first Rutgers win is an unbelievable experience for myself as a coach,” first-year coach Caitlin Schweihofer said after the 18-25, 25-17, 25-19, 25-20 victory, “but I am beyond grateful for the work put in by both my staff and the administration here to make this happen as well as the team to be so committed to my system and my process to really buying in that this is possible for Rutgers volleyball.”
Rutgers, which entered this season 3-117 since it joined the Big Ten in 2013, opened the spring 2021 season with back-to-back losses last weekend at Northwestern. Last season Rutgers went 2-18 in the league, beating Northwestern and Iowa. This is the earliest in a season the program has won a B1G match. Rutgers lost its last eight matches of 2019.
Also in the Big Ten on Friday, Northwestern’s weekend series at Nebraska was postponed “as mutually agreed upon by both teams due to health and safety concerns in the Northwestern program,” Northwestern said in a news release.
“We are disappointed for our fans that we won’t be able to play this weekend, but the health and safety of everyone in the Northwestern volleyball program is what’s most important, and we wish them all the best,” Nebraska coach John Cook said.
Among Friday’s highlights were Florida Gulf Coast’s Cortney VanLiew opening the season with 30 kills in a five-set win at USF and South Dakota upsetting Creighton.
The recaps and highlights follow, but first a look at Saturday’s schedule.
The Big Ten features five matches, starting with Wisconsin at Illinois. Indiana is at Rutgers, Iowa is at Purdue, Minnesota is at Maryland, and Northwestern is at Nebraska.
There are two Pac-12 matches when UCLA goes to Oregon and USC is at Oregon State.
The SEC continues with Florida at Ole Miss, South Carolina at Alabama, Kentucky at Arkansas, and LSU at Ole Miss.
In the American Athletic, the slate is sprinkled with non-conference matches, including Tulane playing host to the Southland’s Stephen F. Austin twice, Cincinnati goes to the Missouri Valley’s Illinois State, SMU entertains Rice of Conference USA, Temple is home the Big East’s UConn, Memphis plays host to Louisiana Tech of Conference USA, USF is home for the ASUN’s Florida Gulf Coast, and UCF entertains North Florida of the ASUN.
There are two Big Sky matches when Northern Arizona is at Portland State and Idaho State goes to Sacramento State.
Among NCAA Division I-II men, there are three MIVA-EIVA matches when Ohio State is at Penn State, Lewis plays NJIT at Saint Francis, while Loyola plays at Saint Francis. Lindenwood of the MIVA is at Lincoln Memorial. George Mason of the EIVA is home for Barton. In the MPSF, Grand Canyon is at Concordia, and in Conference Carolinas, Belmont Abbey is at Lander and Coker is home for Queens.
Go to the VolleyballMag.com TV and Streaming listings to get links to any match that is being broadcast.
BIG TEN — Rutgers (1-2) got 12 kills each from Kamila Cieslik, who had six digs, and Anastasiia Maksimova, who had three blocks.
“It feels amazing, not only because it’s our first win of the season but our first win against Indiana in the history of Rutgers,” said Cieslik, a senior right side from Knoxville, Tennessee.
Beka Kojadinovic had 10 kills, an assist, an ace, six blocks, and eight digs. Tina Grkovic had six kills and five blocks, and Shea McNamara had four kills and nine blocks, one solo. Setter Inna Balyko had two kills in three errorless tries, 35 assists, four aces, four blocks, and a team-high 15 digs. The Scarlet Knights hit .205.
“This is a testament to all the girls who came before this and all the girls that are here right now and all that will come after,” Schweihofer said. “Big Ten volleyball is the best in the nation and although it wasn’t a super-smooth transition, we’re on the rise and we’re only going to get better. ”
Indiana (0-3) was led by Breanna Edwards, who had 20 kills, two assists, a block and six digs. Tommi Stockham had 11 kills, two assists, an ace, 11 digs, and two blocks, one solo. The Hoosiers hit .089.
“Congrats to Rutgers. They did a great job,” IU coach Steve Aird said. “They won the serve and pass game. I think they have good experience and when they got some confidence they kind of smelled blood in the water. It’s a good lesson.
“We are a good young team going against a veteran team. I’m grateful to get to play this match. There is nowhere to hide in this conference. I’m glad we have the opportunity to play again tomorrow versus waiting a week. I give Rutgers credit. They played well and they will be confident coming back tomorrow.”
Wisconsin (3-0) got all it could handle for two sets but then won at Illinois (2-1) 25-20, 30-28, 25-9, as the Badgers hit .371. Dana Rettke led with 14 kills and she hit .565 after having one error in 23 attacks. She added four blocks. Deahna Kraft had 11 kills, two assists, a block, and seven digs. Danielle Hart had nine kills with no errors in 12 attacks to go with two blocks. Devyn Robinson had seven kills with no errors in 18 swings and she had four blocks. Megan Cooney led Illinois with 13 kills, a block, and five digs …
Purdue (1-2) swept visiting Iowa (0-3) 25-19, 25-15, 25-17 as Caitlyn Newton had 12 kills, two aces, and three digs. Maddy Chinn had seven kills, hit .500, and had four blocks. Taylor Trammell had six kills, hit .625, and had eight blocks. Iowa hit .067 …
And Minnesota (3-0) won in three at Maryland (0-3) as Stephanie Samedy led with 14 kills in the 25-16, 25-17, 25-23 victory. Taylor Landfair added nine kills and two blocks and Adanna Rollins had eight kills, four aces, 10 digs, and three blocks, one solo. Rebekah Rath had eight kills for Maryland and Jada Gardner had seven and four blocks.
PAC-12 — UCLA (3-0) got 24 kills from Mac May in a 25-20, 25-20, 19-25, 25-13 victory at Oregon (1-2). May hit .304, and added an assist, three blocks, and seven digs. Emily Ryan had 12 kills and hit .556 to go with seven blocks — three solo — and five digs. Brooke Nuneviller led Oregon with 15 kills, an ace, a block, and 15 digs. Taylor Borup had nine kils and 12 digs …
Oregon State (1-2) got its first victory with a 25-22, 26-24, 25-12 win over visiting USC, which was opening its season. Kateryna Tkachenko led OSU with 15 kills as she hit .324 and had two assists, an ace, two blocks, and three digs. Kalen Owes led USC with 17 kills and five digs …
Utah (3-0) won in four at Cal (0-3) 25-19, 23-25, 25-16, 25-11 behind 17 kills from Dani Drews and 13 from Kenzie Koerber. Drews added an assist, two aces, a block, and 13 digs, while Koerber had three assists, two aces, two solo blocks, and 11 digs. Madelyn Robinson had nine kills, hit .333 and had an assist, a block, and five digs. Saige Ka’aha’aina-Torres had six kills in 10 errorless attempts, 42 assists, an ace, a block, and seven digs. Lydia Grote had nine kills and two blocks for Cal, which hit .082. Bella Bergmark added five kills and seven blocks, two solo …
Washington (2-1) battled to a 25-21, 25-20, 29-27 victory at Arizona (0-3). Lauren Sanders led a balanced attack with nine kills while hitting .375 to go with two aces and three blocks. Samantha Drechsel, who had two ace, five blocks, and six digs, and Madi Ensley had seven kills each. Sofia Maldonado led Arizona with 14 kills, an ace, three digs, and a block. Paige Whipple had 11 kills, two blocks, and two digs.
SEC — South Carolina (6-3) won in four at Alabama (2-7). Riley Whitesides led with 14 kills, an assist, an ace, five blocks, and nine digs. Kyla Manning had 10 kills, a block, and 10 digs. McKenzie Moorman had nine kills with no errors in 12 swings to go with four blocks, one solo, and Mikayla Robinson had eight kills and eight blocks, two solo. Abby Marjama had 18 kills for Alabama and an ace, a block, and two digs. Kendyl Reaugh had 16 kills, a block, and 11 digs …
Florida (7-2) swept visiting Ole Miss (0-7). T’ara Ceasar led with 12 kills and hit .348. Marlie Monserez had three kills in six errorless attempts and had 31 assists and five digs. Her team hit .431. Aubrey Sultemeier led Ole Miss with seven kills and hit .545 after having one error in 11 swings …
Kentucky (9-0) hit .493 and won its spring opener by sweeping at Arkansas (6-3). Alli Stumler led with 12 kills and hit .435. She had four digs, two assists, and two blocks, one solo. Madi Skinner had nine kills and hit .667 to go with five blocks and three digs. Madison Lilley had four kills in five errorless attempts, 35 assits, an ace, two blocks, and five digs. Jillian Gillen and Maggie Cartwright had eight kills each for Arkansas …
And Kylie Deberg had 24 kills and Anna Dixon 20 as Missouri (7-2) beat visiting LSU (3-4) 23-25, 25-22, 25-18, 19-25, 15-9. Deberg hit .305 and had an assist, two aces, seven digs, and three blocks, one solo. Dixon hit .349 and had nine digs. Jaden Newsome had four kills, 48 asssists, two blocks, and 11 digs. Taylor Bannister led LSU with 18 kills, three assists, two aces, and four digs. Whitney Foreman had 13 kills and three blocks, one solo, and Paige Flickinger had 11 kills, hitting .320, to go with an assist, an ace, 23 digs, and three blocks, two solo.
MAC — Miami (3-1) was down 0-2 and came back to win at Akron (1-3) 27-29, 17-25, 25-18, 25-16, 15-11. Miami, which hit .325, got 18 kills from Sarah Wojick, who hit .586 after having one error in 29 attacks. She added an ace, two blocks, and seven digs. Sophie Riemersma and Gaby Harper had 12 kills each. Riemersma had no errors in 20 swings. Shelby Fulmer led Akron with 14 kills, two blocks, and three digs, and Jen Durra had 13 kills, three aces, and 13 digs …
Savannah Matthews had 22 kills as Kent State went to 2-0 with a four-set win at Central Michigan (1-3). Matthews hit .314 and had an assist and 12 digs. Melissa Kolurbasi had 12 kills, Taylor Heberle 11, and Lana Strejcek 10 while hitting .409. She also had thre blocks, one solo. Alex Haffner had a kill, 58 assists, four aces, two blocks, and eight digs. Kalina Smith had 13 kills and five blocks for CMU and Savannah Thompson had 12 kills and 11 digs …
Ball State (4-0) swept at Buffalo (0-4). Kia Holder led with 14 kills and hit .357 to go with a dig and six blocks, one solo. The Cardinals hit .318, while Buffalo hit .030 …
Toledo (1-3) swept at NIU (1-3) behind 17 kills from Taylor Alt and 12 from Olivia Vance. Katie Jablonski had 11 kills for NIU and Kaitlyn Bell 10 while hitting .381 …
And Bowling Green (4-0) swept at Western Michigan (2-2) as Petra Indrova had 13 kills and hit .344 to go with two aces, three blocks, and nine digs. Katelyn Meyer added 12 kills, two solo blocks, and five digs. Rachel Bontrager had 14 kills, three aces, and seven digs for WMU, which hit .076.
AROUND THE NATION — South Dakota (1-2) went down 0-2 at Creighton (2-1) but came back to knock off the Bluejays 21-25, 19-25, 25-23, 25-23, 15-13. Creighton is ranked No. 14 in the AVCA poll and it’s the biggest upset ever for a South Dakota team since it moved to Division I.
“That was a huge win for our program,” South Dakota coach Leanne Williamson said. “Our team showed a ton of resiliency after the second set being down 0-2 on the road. It is really tough to come away with a win on the road, especially against such a great team like Creighton.
“It wasn’t always a clean match, but I loved how hard we fought as a team.”
The Coyotes, who hit .149, got 18 kills from Elizabeth Juhnke, who had two blocks and 17 digs. Sami Slaughter added 14 kills, hit .308, and had nine blocks, three solo. Creighton, which had won its last 12 matches at home, hit .109. Jaela Zimmerman led with 19 kills, two assists, two aces, two blocks, and seven digs. Keeley Davis had 14 kills, an assist, an ace, two blocks, and 19 digs …
Cincinnati of the American Athletic Conference opened its season with a four-set win at Illinois State (2-2) of the Missouri Valley Conference as Maria Tobergte and Madison Waters had 19 kills each. Waters had 15 digs, teammate Kailea Carrier had 12 kills with one error in 25 swings, and setter Ashley Kozer had three kills in eight errorless tries, 51 assists, a block, and 19 digs. Kaylee Martin had 15 kills and 16 digs for Illinois State and Sarah Kusher had 13 kills, two aces, and 12 digs …
Also in the ACC, SMU beat visiting Rice of Conference USA in five, but USF lost to visiting Florida Gulf Coast of the ASUN in five.
SMU opened its season by coming back from being down 2-1 and hit .420 in the final two sets. Jadyn Bauss led with 17 kills and 14 digs, and Hannah Jacobs had 16 kills and hit .325. Rice (1-2) got 22 kills from Nicole Lennon, who hit .352 to go with two assists, two solo blocks and 11 digs .. FGCU opened its season by going down 0-2 and then winning 22-25, 25-27, 25-20, 25-21, 17-15 at USF (2-1) behind VanLiew’s career-high. VanLiew had 10 errors in 70 attacks and hit .286 and added an assist, an ace, three blocks, and 12 digs. Tori Morris had 12 kills and nine blocks, two solo. Marta Cvitkovic led USF with 23 kills and 11 digs. Makayla Washington had 15 kills and three blocks …
Memphis (2-1) of the AAC swept Louisiana Tech (0-6) of Conference USA. Sam Drewry led Memphis with nine kills. Tech hit minus .019 …
There were two Missouri Valley Conference matches as Indiana State won at Evansville in four and Drake did the same at UNI.
Indiana State (1-1) hit .324, led by Mallory Keller, who had 16 kills and hit .367. Madeline Williams had 12 kills and hit .524 and added an assist, three aces, two digs, and four blocks. Evansville (1-1) got 17 kills from Alondra Vazquez and 15 from Melanie Feliciano. Each had 10 digs …
Two other Missouri Valley teams beat Butler of the Big East. Valparaiso (1-1) swept Butler despite hitting .076. Peyton McCarthy had nine kills and two blocks for Valpo. Butler hit .038 in its season opener … Butler then came back and lost to Loyola in five as four Ramblers had 11 or more kills in the 22-25, 25-22, 25-23, 20-25, 17-15 victory. Sarah Murczek led with 18 kills, four aces, three blocks, and 26 digs. Brittany Robinson had 20 kills, four block, and 14 digs for Butler …
Howard swept visiting George Mason in the season opener for both teams. Jennifer Bolden had 10 kills and hit .500. Her team hit .390 … Lauren King had 11 kills and hit .455 to go with three blocks and three digs as VCU (3-0) swept at Norfolk State (1-1) … Lipscomb improved to 3-0 with a sweep of visiting UAB (0-2). Lanie Wagner led with 11 kills as she hit .474 and had three digs and a block. Fernanda Maida had 11 kills and five blocks, one solo, for UAB … UNC Charlotte won its season opener with a sweep at Davidson (1-1). Emani Foster led Charlotte with 14 kills …
Southern Miss (3-1) and Southeastern Louisiana (2-1) split their two matches Friday. SLU won the opener in four as Duquesne Moratzka led with 15 kills while hitting .325. She had nine digs and five blocks. Nyanuer Bidit had 12 kills and hit .363 to go with four blocks, and Kinsley Hanback had 11 kills and hit .350. Kailin Newsome had 22 kills for SLU. In the second match, Southeastern Louisiana won in five as Newton led with 14 kills. Moratzka had 18 and seven blocks for USM …
And visiting Texas-Arlington opened its spring season with a five-set win at Abilene Christian. Brianna Ford led with 10 kills, four blocks, and 16 digs. Meredith Fisher had eight kills and four blocks, one solo. Katelyn Mueller led Abilene Christian with 20 kills, two blocks, and 12 digs.
MEN — UCLA opened its MPSF season with a sweep of visiting Grand Canyon as the Bruins hit .341. Cole Ketrzynski led with 13 kills, an assist, two aces, and a dig, and Daniel Matheney had 10 kills, hit .500, and had two blocks. GCU got 10 kills from Jackson Hickman and nine from David Kisiel …
Lewis of the MIVA improved to 4-0 with a sweep at Saint Francis (1-5) of the EIVA. Tyler Mitchem led the Flyers with 10 kills and hit .529 after having one error in 17 attacks. He added an ace and two blocks, one solo. Landon Krause and TJ Murray had nine kills and four blocks each. Michael Fisher had nine kills for SFU.
Also at Saint Francis for the Red Flash Invitational, Loyola (3-0) swept NJIT (0-1) as the Ramblers hit .398, led by Cole Schlothauer’s 18 kills. Julian Meissner and Alvaro Gimeno both had 14 kills for NJIT …
Blake Reardon had 22 kills and hit .444 as Ball State (3-1) of the EIVA beat visiting Lincoln Memorial (1-5) in four. Reardon had four blocks and nine digs. Brandon Shepherd had 16 kills and hit .438 to go with three blocks and seven digs …
Penn State (2-1) of the EIVA hit .481 and swept visiting Ohio State (1-2) of the MIVA. Cal Fisher led with 10 kills as he hit .400 and had two aces and two digs, Jacob Pasteur had 13 kills for Ohio State … Lindenwood (2-0) of the MIVA won in three at King (2-1) of Conference Carolinas as Phil Swartz and AJ Lewis had nine kills each …
George Mason (2-1) of the EIVA beat Southern Virginia (0-1). Hayden Wagner had 13 kills and hit .500 in the sweep … Tobi Azeez had 24 kills as Mount Olive of Conference Carolinas opened its season with a sweep Queens (1-6). Azeez had four aces, 15 digs, and four blocks, one solo.
