Volleyball Knocks off Rutgers in Four - Michigan State University Athletics

Friday, October 23

Piscataway, N.J.

7 PM

Michigan State University

16-3,6-3Big Ten

Rutgers

10-11,1-8Big Ten

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Michigan St.	25	26	25	25	3
Rutgers	12	28	22	20	1

Photo by: Ynhi Le

10/23/2026 10:23:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score MSU 3, Rutgers 1

PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Michigan State volleyball earned a four-set win over Rutgers (25-12, 26-28, 25-22, 25-20) Friday evening inside Jersey Mike's Arena.

MSU moves to 16-3 (6-3 Big Ten) with the win, while Rutgers drops to 10-11 overall and 1-8 in the conference.

The Spartans hit .336 for the match and held Rutgers to .234 hitting while leading in kills (68-50) and digs (60-51). The teams were even in service aces with five apiece and Rutgers held a slight 8-6 advantage in total blocks.

Senior outside hitter Alanna Bankston led MSU in kills with a career-high 21, her second time eclipsing the 20-kill mark in MSU's last three matches, and hit .283 for the match while adding five digs. Senior middle blocker Zora Hardison tied a career-high 16 kills on .600 hitting and posted a team-high three total blocks alongside junior middle blocker Carmen Waye and freshman outside hitter Madi Andrews. Waye also put down 14 kills on a .609 clip and Andrews tallied 11.

Redshirt sophomore setter Malayah Long posted her third double-double of the season with 53 assists and a season-high-tying 11 digs. She also led MSU in service aces with two. Senior libero Lia Schneider recorded a team-high 17 digs.

MSU used four Bankston kills, a kill from Waye and block from Waye and Bankston to take a 6-2 lead in the first set. Rutgers put down back-to-back points to cut the MSU lead to two at 6-4, but the Spartans followed with a 5-0 run with kills from Andrews, Hardison and Ogden, a Waye service ace and block from Hardison and Andrews to force a Rutgers timeout at 11-4. The teams traded points back-and-forth in the following points until a Scarlet Knight service error gave the Spartans a 15-8 lead at the media timeout. The Spartans fired off three-straight points with an Ogden kill and back-to-back Waye kills to stretch their lead to 10 at 18-8 out of the timeout and forced a second Rutgers timeout at 22-11 after a kill from Andrews and Rutgers attack error. An Andrews kill and Andrews and Hardison block helped the Spartans get to set point at 24-11 before a Rutgers attack error ended the set, 25-12.

The Spartans took a one-point lead at 8-7 with a Bankston kill, block from Waye and Andrews and Rutgers error after the Scarlet Knights used a run to take a 7-5 lead the early points of the second set. MSU used back-to-back Andrews kills to take a one-point advantage again at 11-10 before the Scarlet Knights used a 5-2 run to take a 15-13 lead at the media timeout. MSU got within one out of the timeout at 15-14 after a Rutgers error and again at 18-17 with back-to-back kills from Waye and Andrews before the Scarlet Knights followed with back-to-back points to force an MSU timeout at 20-17. A Rutgers service error got the Spartans back within two at 20-18 after the timeout, but Rutgers responded with a pair of kills to stretch its lead to four at 22-18 to force another MSU timeout. The Scarlet Knights were then forced into a timeout of their own after Hardison put down back-to-back kills to get MSU back within a pair at 22-20. A Rutgers block out of the timeout extended the Scarlet Knights lead back to three at 23-20 before MSU fired off three-straight points with a pair of Bankston kills and Waye kill to tie the set at 23-23. MSU got to set point at 24-23 and again at 25-24 before the Scarlet Knights finished off the set in extras to take the second, 28-26.

Rutgers tied the third set at 5-5 after MSU opened the set on a 5-0 run and took as large of a lead as three at 14-11 before a 4-0 MSU run with a pair of Hardison kills, a Bankston kill and Rutgers error gave the Spartans a 15-14 lead at the media timeout. The Spartans extended their run to 6-0 with a Scarlet Knight error and Long and Hardison block out of the timeout to take a 17-14 lead. Rutgers got back within two at 17-15 and again at 18-16, but kills from Bankston and Waye stretched the MSU lead back to four at 20-16 to force a Rutgers timeout. After an Ogden kill kept the Spartans' lead at four at 23-19, Rutgers used a 3-0 run to get within a point at 23-22 and force an MSU timeout. Andrews got the Spartans to set point at 24-22 with a kill to then force a Rutgers timeout. Bankston finished off the set with a kill out of the timeout to help the Spartans take the third, 25-22.

Rutgers took a timeout after the Spartans opened up a 7-2 lead in the fourth using a 4-0 run finished off by Bankston's 20th kill of the match. MSU extended its advantage to seven with a 3-1 run out of the timeout with kills from Waye and Karolina Staniszewska and a Rutgers error at 10-3. The Scarlet Knights got within three at 13-10 with back-to-back kills, but kills from Hardison and Waye put MSU back up by four at 15-11 at the media timeout. Rutgers responded out of the timeout with a 5-1 run to tie the set at 16-16 and force an MSU timeout. Behind four-straight kills from Hardison out of the timeout, MSU extended its lead back to four to force Rutgers into a timeout of its own at 21-17. The Scarlet Knights staved off two MSU match points at 24-19 and 24-20 after a Staniszewska ace, but a career-high-tying 16th kill from Hardison ended the set and match, 25-20.

Up next, MSU travels to Maryland to face the Terrapins on Sunday, Oct. 25 at noon on the Big Ten Network.