10/21/2021 other sports Edit

Rutgers Volleyball drops tough one versus Maryland on Wednesday

Mark Bator

Rutgers.Rivals.com

Rutgers Volleyball began this season at 8-2, their best start since 2012, which happens to be the last time the team finished with a winning record. This season, following an out-of-conference game that resulted in a loss against Clemson on Sept. 17, the Scarlet Knights opened Big Ten play against No. 20 Penn State.

And conference play has not been kind to them.

Rutgers has faced a constant onslaught of Top-25 opponents in recent weeks, including Penn State (twice), Wisconsin, Purdue, Nebraska and Ohio State. Heading into last night’s game, the Knights had dropped nine straight, and the prospect of facing a 15-5 Maryland squad at their home court looked like an uphill battle.

The Scarlet Knights (8-11 overall, 0-8 in conference) entered the Xfinity Center Pavilion in College Park, Maryland this week looking to change their fortunes in Big Ten play, and from the outset, it appeared that they could collect their first conference win of the season. Rutgers, paced by kill leaders Kamila Cieslik and Beka Kojadinovic, kept it close in the first set. With the score tied at 21, the Terrapins went ahead on three consecutive kills to go up 24-21. Despite a late Rutgers rally, the Knights ended up dropping the first set 25-23.

In the second set, the Knights came out fast, running out to a 4-1 lead early, and later extending the lead to 8-2. But as would be the tenor of the second set, the scoring ran in streaks, with the tilt tightening to a 19-19 tie before an attack error by middle blocker Megan Vernon gave the Terrapins the lead. From there, Maryland took over, extending their lead to 24-19. Despite another late effort by the Scarlet Knights, the set ended 25-22 on a kill by sophomore Sam Csire, her tenth of the session.

In the final set, Csire started out where she had left off, with the Strongsville, Ohio native scoring the first point with an early kill. The Knights seemed deflated in the third set, and it was not until Rutgers again substituted in Megan Vernon that they got a much-needed spark, including the Kansas State transfer making a forceful block on Csire. When she again denied Csire later in the set to make the score 15-11, the Knights appeared to be finding their feet.

But as they had done all night, the Terrapins started feeding the ball to Csire, and once the score was tied at 19 apiece, the outcome appeared inevitable. In the end, it was Maryland outpacing the Knights in the final set, 25-20, when Shealyn McNamara’s return was eventually ruled out on a play that was challenged by Rutgers Coach Caitlyn Schweihofer.

In truth, last night’s game was the Sam Csire show, with the outside hitter scoring from all over the court for Maryland. Csire finished with 20 kills, 10 digs and 22 points. For the Terrapins, it was their fourth conference win and their ninth win at home, lifting their record to 16-5 overall.

For the Knights, fifth-year senior starter Beka Kojadinovic paced the Scarlet with eight kills, six digs and 10 total points as they recorded their tenth straight loss, falling to 0-9 in conference play. Rutgers next travels to Indiana on Oct. 24 to play the Hoosiers. In their last meeting with Indiana on Oct. 8, the Knights lost in Piscataway 3-1.