PITTSBURGH – The Duquesne volleyball team (8-10, 3-4 A-10) will wrap-up its five-match home stand this weekend. The Dukes will host Fordham Friday, Oct. 15 at 7 p.m. and wrap up the weekend with Rhode Island on Sunday, Oct. 17 at noon.
 
The match Sunday is the team's annual "Dig Pink" match to raise funds for the Side-Out Foundation and breast cancer research.
 
Both matches will broadcast live on ESPN+.
 
SERIES BREAKDOWN VS. FORDHAM

• All-Time Series: Duquesne leads, 36-6
• First Meeting: Oct. 7, 1995 at Fordham – DUQ won 3-0
• Last Meeting: Nov. 1, 2019 at Fordham – FOR won 3-1 I Recap | Box Score
• Streak: Fordham, +1

SERIES BREAKDOWN VS. RHODE ISLAND

• All-Time Series: Rhode Island leads, 37-21
• First Meeting: Oct. 11, 1986 at Rhode Island – URI won 3-0
• Last Meeting: Nov. 2, 2019 at URI – DUQ won 3-0 I Recap | Box Score
• Streak: Duquesne, +2

QUICK HITS

• The Dukes sit in fifth in the A-10 standings nearing the halfway-point of the A-10 schedule.
• Fordham (5-11, 2-3 A-10) and Rhode Island (9-12, 1-4 A-10) are in sixth and seventh, respectively.
• The top-six teams in the league will qualify for the Atlantic 10 Championship, which will be played at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse next month.
• The Dukes are once again teaming up with the Side-Out Foundation to help raise money for breast cancer research.
• Duquesne has set a goal of $2,000 and is reaching out to alumni, friends, family and fans for donations to help the team reach its goal.
• This season's Dig Pink® match is this Sunday, Oct. 17th against Rhode Island.
• Duquesne loss to Fordham in the last meeting between the two teams in 2019 broke a 20-match winning-streak that the Dukes held over the Rams which dated back to 2006.
• Fordham has not won consecutive meetings over Duquesne since 1998.
• The Dukes are 5-5 in their last 10 meetings against Rhode Island.
• Duquesne is 13-16 against Rhode Island in matches played in Pittsburgh. The Rams have defeated the Dukes 20 out of the 28 all-time meetings at Rhode Island.
• Duquesne claimed one out of its three matches last weekend.
• The Dukes fell in three sets to both Saint Louis and VCU, before pulling out a 3-1 win over Davidson on Sunday.
• DUQ trailed 21-15 in the fourth set, but closed the match on a 10-2 run to finish off the Wildcats and earn a crucial A-10 victory.
• Four Dukes finished with double-digit kill totals, including kill-dig double doubles from both Summer Slade and Anna Shoemake.
• Slade finished with 16 kills and 12 digs for her team-leading seventh kill-dig double-double of the season.
• Slade ranks second on the team with both 2.74 kills and 2.58 digs per set.
• Shoemake established season highs in the win over Davidson with 14 kills and 20 digs.
• The true-freshman ranks third on the team with 1.95 kills per set.
• Morgan Kelly led the Dukes with 18 kills in the Davidson match.
• Kelly leads the team and ranks fourth in the A-10 with 3.54 kills per set.
• Earlier this season, Kelly broke a 22-year old Duquesne record for kills in a three-set match when she put down 20 in the win over Canisius (Box Score) at the Western NY Invitational.
• The previous record of 19 was set by both Anita Ball (09/04/99 vs. Bowling Green) and Mindy Buhrow (10/10/98 vs. Dayton).
• Kelly established a career-high with 24 kills on 60 attacks (.217 hitting percentage) in a five-set loss to Akron earlier this season.
• Setter Hailey Poling remains atop the A-10 with 9.75 assists per set and 663 total assists. She established a career-high with 58 assists in a five-set loss to Akron in August.
• Middle Hitter Anita Parrott ranks fourth in the A-10 with 1.07 blocks per set. Parrott has matched a career-high with nine blocks twice this season in matches versus Akron and Liberty.
• After not playing any five-set matches in the spring, the Dukes have already played in more five-set matches this season (5) then they did in the entire 2019 season.DU is 2-3 in five-set matches this season.

DUQUESNE HEAD COACH STEVE OPPERMAN (Ohio State '87)

• Steve Opperman enters his 24^th season as the head coach of the Dukes in 2021.
• He owns a career-record of 457-459 and a mark of 338-344 at Duquesne.
• Opperman collected his 450^th-career victory with a 3-0 win over Youngstown State in the season opener.
• The New Bremen, Ohio native is Duquesne's all-time winningest coach with 338 career victories on The Bluff.
• He is a four-time Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year (co-2001, co-2004, co-2010 and 2013).
• Opperman coached the first two AVCA All-Americans in program history, Liz Homan (2010) and Arielle Love (2014).
• The Ohio State alum has coached 14 First or Second Team A-10 All-Conference players (a total of 22 times).
• He has coached 22 A-10 All-Rookie Team member.
• Opperman arrived in Pittsburgh in 1998 after spending seven seasons as the head coach at Wright State, where he amassed a record of 119-116 from 1991-97.

SCOUTING THE FORDHAM RAMS (ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS)

• Fordham enters play on a two-match winning-streak after posting victories over GW and George Mason last weekend. The wins snapped a four-match losing streak for the Rams.
• Fordham is 2-10 away from the Bronx, including an 0-6 mark in true-road games.
• Whitley Moody leads the Rams and ranks third in the A-10 with 3.58 kills per set.
• The 2020 A-10 Rookie of the Year posted seven kills in the win over GW and 12 in the four-set victory over Mason.
• She has been limited to under 10 kills just three times this season (New Mexico, VCU, GW).
• Bella Urena ranks second on the team and 11^th in the A-10 with 2.71 kills per set.
• Urena finished with a team-high 14 kills in both matches against GW and Mason.
• Mallory Lipski ranks second in the A-10 with 4.72 digs per set.
• Megan Brzozowski slots third in the league with 8.56 assists per set.

SCOUTING THE RHODE ISLAND RAMS (ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS)

• After starting the season 8-7, Rhode Island has won just one of its past six matches.
• The Rams defeated George Mason last Friday, but lost to GW in five sets the following day.
• Rhode Island has played in a league-high 74 sets entering the weekend, but only two five-set matches.
• Three Rhode Island players rank among the top-20 in the A-10 in kills per set, including Brynne Wright (15th/2.41), Jamie Smith (17th/2.37) and Claire Wagner (18th/2.26).
• Ella Ratzloff leads the team and ranks third in the league with 4.53 digs per set.
• Grace Hammond slots fifth in the A-10 with 24 total service aces.