Rutgers aims for elusive Big Ten victory

It all comes down to this Saturday. 

Following its disappointing road loss to Maryland on Tuesday night, the Rutgers volleyball team looks to rebound Saturday night at the College Avenue Gym.

The Terrapins (8-12, 1-8) represent the best opportunity for the Scarlet Knights (7-15, 0-9) to earn their first Big Ten conference win. 

On Tuesday, Rutgers won its first set in Big Ten conference play and brought the game to a full five sets after being down two sets to one. In the fourth set, Rutgers came out strong and maintained a slight lead throughout the entirety of the contest. 

The Knights finally showed the ability to finish sets, something head coach CJ Werneke and the entire team have been working toward for the past few weeks. 

Besides their ability to finish, the Knights also learned other valuable lessons from their first game against the Terrapins. 

“We learned we can win sets in this league and can come back as a team after being down,” Werneke said. “If we execute at a high level and don’t beat ourselves, we can beat this team. We realized there a lot of things that are in our control, so now we have to focus on reducing our errors in critical situations.”

Errors have been the Knights’ weakness in recent games, including their contest against Maryland. Rutgers had 53 total errors in the game, nine more than Maryland.

If the Knights are to win their first Big Ten match, the number of errors committed in games must be reduced. 

The coaching staff and players are not pressing when it comes to adjustments, though. They know Tuesday’s game represented their best effort in Big Ten play and are close to acquiring that elusive first conference win. 

Playing Maryland in a back-to-back series has also given many players a sense of confidence when it comes to this week’s preparation. 

“I think it’s really cool to be able to play a team back-to-back,” said senior middle blocker Rachel Andreassian. “We will be able to work on how we played Tuesday in practice and watch film on how we played, which is a lot better than watching someone else playing [Maryland]. Now that we know their tendencies, we will be able to identify areas that we can attack and just work on putting ourselves in a better situation to win.”

One of the areas Rutgers must attack is Maryland’s front line. On Tuesday, the Knights held a slight advantage in kills (52-51). 

Two Rutgers players, freshman outside hitter Meme Fletcher and sophomore middle blocker Lauren Cloyd, each registered double-digit kills. It was the first time since conference play began that two Knights had over 10 kills in a game. 

While Rutgers’ offense will need to perform on a similar level as it did on Tuesday, the defense will need to focus on stopping one Maryland player. 

Maryland outside hitter Ashleigh Crutcher averages 3.5 kills per set, which currently ranks sixth in the Big Ten. She displayed her skill set on Tuesday night, pouring on 22 kills for an efficient .298 hitting percentage. 

Stopping her will be a top priority for the Knights’ defense. 

Playing at home against an opponent it just faced and almost beat, Rutgers sees Saturday night’s match as one of its best opportunities to collect its first victory in the Big Ten. 

In order to have a different outcome than last time, the Knights know they have to maintain one area: their consistency. 

“We have to play at a high level throughout the game, regardless of what’s going on or what the score is,” Andreassian said. “As long as we continue to be the same team throughout the game, we will have a [much] better shot to win than with all the highs and lows we experienced on Tuesday night.”

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