Volleyball To Open Season With Miami, North Texas & Colorado - Rutgers University Athletics (2024)

PISCATAWAY, N.J.– The 2024 Rutgers volleyball season gets underway this weekend as the Scarlet Knights make their way to Denton, Texas for the UNT Invitational for matches with Miami, host North Texas and Colorado.

• RU continues to trend upward as it takes the court for Caitlin Schweihofer's fifth season "On The Banks". The Scarlet Knights, in each season in Schweihofer's tenure, have taken a step up on the ladder of success with the squad anticipating moving up another rung behind eight returnees and eight newcomers.
• On the list of last year's notables was Rutgers' first-ever All-Big Ten attacker, first-ever top 25 victory with a 3-1 win over No. 16 Minnesota, the most overall wins and best nonconference record since 2012, a set win improvement by 45% over the previous season and a school record in attendance. Altogether the Scarlet Knights placed 12 entries into the rally-era individual season top 10 records and 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. Additionally, head coach Caitlin Schweihofer registered her 100th career victory.
• Incoming setter junior Ally Borellis, sophom*ore Zora Hardison, who started the last 10 matches of the season in the middle and sophom*ore defensive specialist Kenzie Dyrstad were invited to the U.S. women's National Team Open Program marking the second-straight year a trio of Scarlet Knights have represented Rutgers at the event.

• Earned Second Team All-Big Ten honors
• Led RU last year with 2.99 k/s and is currently 10th among Scarlet Knight rally-era attackers with 655 career kills.
• LedRutgers in kills in 20 of 30 matches recording 21 double-figure kill matches and seven double-doubles.
• Among her notable performances last year washer .630 attack percentage at Columbia markingthe fifth-best attack percentage in a rally-era match,a season-high 19 kills in a five-set victory at Iowa marking the most by an RU player in a five-set match in 2023, six aces versus Princeton tying for the third-most in a rally-era match and most in a rally-era five-set match and a career-high seven blocks against No. 24 Ohio State.

• Played in 22 matches and 55 sets.
• Set a career-high with 10 kills hitting a career-best .640 (10-1-14) in a win at Rider helping head coach Caitlin Schweihofer to her 100th career win.
• Registered a career-high 13 digs in a five-set match at NC State.
• As a freshman, posted nine kills against No. 9 Minnesota and collected eight digs against No. 3 and defending national champion Wisconsin and at Michigan.

#20 Rebekah Williams - OH - Jr.

• Played in 28 matches and 98 sets with 11 starts averaging1.05 kills and 1.18 digs per set.
• Led Rutgers in kills three times last season including a career-high 13 kills in five-set non-conference finale versus Princeton.
• Sophom*ore season notables include hitting a season-best .455 (5-0-11) in the season opener with NC A&T, career-high four aces in a sweep of Morgan State, career-high 10 digs in a five-set victory at Iowa and servingup three aces at Michigan State tying for the most by an RU player in a four-set match last season.

• One of three Scarlet Knights to attend U.S. National Team Open Program.
• Moved into the starting rotation in the final 10 matches of the season last year as a freshman.
• Collected a season-high eight blocks, including three solo stops, in a five-set victory over Iowa and hit a season-best .833 (10-0-12) versus Michigan marking the best-hitting percentage by an RU player in a four-set match in 2023.

• One of three Scarlet Knights to attend U.S. National Team Open Program.
• Played in all 30 matches and 115 sets including 77 Big Ten sets.
• Top moments included season-high 15 digs in a five-set victory at Iowa and a season-high three aces in a five-set contest with Illinois which included RU's first-ever set wins at Huff Hall.

#10 Georgia Lee - S - So.

• Appeared in six matches and 15 sets.
• Set up a season-high 17 assists in a four-set match with Maryland.
• Served up three aces tying for the most by an RU player in a a four-set match in 2023and five digs in a four-set contest versus Northwestern.

#14 Anna Hartman - OH - So.

• Played in 26 matches and 85 sets averaging1.55 kills per set.
• Swung for a career-high 17 kills in five-set win at Iowa and hit a season-best .407 (12-1-27) in RU's first-ever top 25 victory in a four-set win over #16 Minnesota.
• Logged a career-high three blocks againstIllinois andMichigan.

#7 Krista Dooley - RS - R-Fr.

• Redshirted the 2023 season
• 2022 JVA Watch List
• Played club volleyball for Dallas Skyline

#13Ece Emrullah - MB - Sr.

• Joins the Scarlet Knights after playing at Siena and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
• While at Siena was named MAACPlayer of the Week aftercollecting nine kills andcareer-high 14 blocks in a 3-1 road win at Marist.
• Ranked third in the MAAC in total blocks (104), tied for fourth in the MAAC in total blocks per set (1.00), led conference in MAAC-only matches for total blocks (81) and second in the conference in MAAC-only matches for total blocks per set (1.21).

#5 Aly Borellis - S - Jr.

• One of three Scarlet Knights to attend U.S. National Team Open Program.
• Joins the Scarlet Knights in the spring after spending the last two seasons at Ole Miss where she was fifth all-time in the rally-scoring era with 1,767 career assists and an SEC All-Freshman Team member in 2022.
• Last yearaveraged 9.61 assists per set topping the 40-assist mark in a set on seven occasions.
• Helped the Rebels to a single-match program record hitting percentage of .488 against Alcorn State and posted a career-high 62 assists in a five-set victory over South Carolina, the second most by a player in Ole Miss history in a single match in the rally-scoring era.
• As a freshman averaged 9.40 helpers per set to rank 13th nationally among freshmen and sixth in the SEC.

#2 Ema Grubanov - OH - Fr.

• Member of Serbian Cadet National Team.
• Three-time state junior vice-champion.
• Two-time junior and cadet regional champion.
• Voted the MVP atregional junior Championship.

#4Uliana Yastrub- OH - Fr.

• Member of the Ukraine U18 and U15 National Teams.
• Played in the 2024 U18 European Championships.
• Won Silver 2023Eastern European Volleyball Zonal Association Championship.

#9 Natalie Robinson - MB - Fr.

• 2023 District Champion.
• District All-Star Team.
• Led conference in block for three-consecutive seasons (2021-23).

#11Lily Bolen - S - Fr.

• Won ECC title in back-to-back years in 2020 and 2021.
• Competed in the 2023 District 16 All-Star Match.
• First Team All-Conference and All-Districtas a junior and senior.
• Broke the Lebanon HS record for most career assists (2418) andmost aces in a single season (85).
• Totaled 2,418 career assists with .884 career setting efficiencyalong with 773 career digs and78 career blocks.

#15 Alleigh Dutton - L/DS - Fr.

• Named 2024 NCC Defensive Player of the Year and 2021 4A State Champion.
• Compiled 379 digs and 48 aces as a senior.
• Valedictorian of McCutcheon High School.

#17 Avery Jesewitz - OH - Fr.

• A JVA All-American,Prepvolleyball.com Class of 2024 Top 150 player andPrepdig.com Top 100 player.
• Took third Placeat USA Girl's Junior Nationals in 2023.
• Three-time Class AAAA MSHSL State Champion in 2021, 2022 & 2023.
• USA Volleyball NTDP participant since 2021.

• The Hurricanes start off the 2024 campaign receiving votes in the AVCA Top 25 Poll after going 18-12 overall and 10-8 in the ACC reaching the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
• Miami returns its top attacker in sophom*ore outside hitter and AVCA All-American Grace Lopez, who averaged 4.11 k/s totaling 407 kills on the season and is the top returner on the serve having totaled 27 aces. TheHurricanes, however, will be looking at a new setter after graduating Savannah Vach, the program's record holder in assists. Senior Alanys Viera saw time at the position in 21 matches last season with 1.55 a/s.
• On defense, junior libero Naylani Feliciano returns after leading the Hurricanes at 2.42 d/s a year ago. Miami lost itstop three blockers from the 2023 campaign with senior middle Abby Casiano back after collecting 69 total blocks and averaging 0.87 per set.

• The host Mean Green finished last season at 17-16 overall and 11-8 in the American and qualifying for the National Invitational Volleyball Championship.
• North Texas brings back outside hitter and Preseason All-American Athletic Conference selectionAryn Johnson, who was third on the squad last year at 2.39 k/s and captured ateam second-best 25 aces.Setter Kamryn Scroggins also returns after putting up a team second-best 4.93 a/salong with 24 service aces. Scroggins is also the top returner in digs having averaged 1.95 per set.
• The Mean Green's top blocker senior Truli Levy is back for 2024 after totaling 1.04 per set and racking up 133.0 total.

• The Buffalos went 16-15overall and 8-12in the Big 12 a season ago.
• Sophom*ore Lily Dwinell is the top returning Buffaloon offense having put away 1.37 k/sona .345 attack percentage. CU welcomes back Taylor Simpson who led the squad with 1,068 total helpers en route to averaging 9.54 per frame. Simpson is also the top returning Buffalo in digs collecting 1.52 per set last season.
• Defensively, Cayla Payne returns after collecting a team second-best 71.0 blocks to average 0.91 last season.

• In Caitlin Schweihofer's first season, played in the spring of 2021 due to COVID-19, the Scarlet Knights tripled its conference win total en route to capturing numerous program firsts. Among the team's first were its first-ever All-Big Ten honoree and Big Ten series sweeps. The Scarlet Knights won their first-ever Big Ten home opener, earned victories over Indiana and Michigan State for the first time in history, captured two series sweeps against Maryland and Michigan State, picked up set victories against No. 4 Nebraska and No. 10 Purdue and pushed No. 19 Ohio State to five sets and match point. RU established new team, season and match records for aces and reset program Big Ten game bests in kills, attempts, attack percentage and assists, as well as individual conference superlatives in attack percentage, assists and digs.
• Returning to fall ball for the 2021 season only three and a half months after the conclusion of the Big Ten-only 2020 season, Rutgers continued to make strides going 8-3 for its best nonconference record since 2012. During the season the Scarlet Knights battled eight Top 25 teams during Big Ten play, a conference that sent eight teams to the NCAA Tournament, including the year's national champion. Rutgers captured set wins over No. 8 Purdue and No. 15 Penn State and took Illinois to five sets in front of a national audience on BTN. Inna Balyko wrapped up her career fifth all-time in assists and ninth all-time in block assists, while Kamila Cieslik became the rally era leader in matches played (132) and Beka Kojadinovic concluded her career as the rally era leader in aces.
• More success continued in 2022 as the Scarlet Knights opened the year at 3-0 for the first time since 1998 and battled eight Top 25 teams during Big Ten play and eight teams that advanced to the 2022 NCAA Tournament. During the nonconference schedule, four Scarlet Knights were named to All-Tournament squads while altogether Rutgers had 11 entries among the rally-era season leaders list.
• Another step up the ladder occurred last year as the Scarlet Knights earned theirfirst-ever All-Big Ten attacker, captured their first-ever top 25 victory, collected the most overall wins andbest nonconference record since 2012, improved set wins by 45% over the previous season and set a school record in attendance. RUplaced 12 entries into the rally-era individual season top 10 records and 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.

• Rutgers is back on the road for the Wooo Pig Invitational hosted by Arkansas. While in Fayetteville, the Scarlet Knights will meet up with the No. 19 Razorbacks along with Little Rock and LA Tech.

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