PITTSBURGH – The Duquesne volleyball team (9-11, 4-5 A-10) will hit the road for a pair of Atlantic 10 matches at Davidson and at VCU this weekend.

The Dukes will take on Davidson on Friday, Oct. 22 at 7 p.m. and wrap up the weekend at VCU at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 24. Both matches will broadcast live on ESPN+.
 
SERIES BREAKDOWN VS. DAVIDSON

• All-Time Series: Duquesne leads, 8-3
• First Meeting: Aug. 30, 2003 at Duquesne – DU won 3-0 I Recap | Box Score
• Last Meeting: Oct. 10, 2021 at Duquesne – DU won 3-1 I Recap | Box Score
• Streak: Duquesne, +2

SERIES BREAKDOWN VS. VCU

• All-Time Series: VCU leads, 15-6
• First Meeting: Sept. 17, 1993 at Saint Francis – DU won 3-1
• Last Meeting: Oct. 9, 2021 at Duquesne – VCU won 3-0 I Recap | Box Score
• Streak: VCU, +10

QUICK HITS

• The Dukes sit in fifth in the A-10 standings at the halfway-point of the league schedule.
• Davidson sits in a tie for third place at 5-3, while VCU is in second at 6-2 in conference play.
• The top-six teams in the league will qualify for the Atlantic 10 Championship, which will be played at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse next month.
• VCU has won each of the past 10 meetings against the Dukes, including six-straight in three sets. Only Dayton (14-straight) has a longer winning streak against DU.
• The Dukes last win over the Rams was in 2016, while their last victory at VCU came in 2014.
• Duquesne has won the past two meetings with Davidson after dropping the previous three against the Wildcats.
• The Dukes rallied past Davidson in four sets in the team's first meeting of the season two weeks ago.
• The Wildcats appeared to be on their way to forcing a fifth set when they went ahead 21-15 in the fourth, but the Dukes battled all the way back and closed out the match with a 10-2 run, including six-straight points to clinch the match at 25-23.
• Four Dukes finished with double-digit kill totals in the match, 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 and 10^th in the A-10 with 2.83 kills 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 and 23^rd in the league with 2.03 kills per set.
• Morgan Kelly led the Dukes with 18 kills in the last meeting with the Wildcats.
• Kelly leads the team and ranks fourth in the A-10 with 3.51 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 leads the A-10 with 10.04 assists per set and 763 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 1.10 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 458-460 and a mark of 339-345 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 339 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 WILDCATS (ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS)

• Davidson enters the weekend at 9-9 overall and 5-3 in A-10 play.
• The Wildcats are coming off of a 3-1 win over Saint Louis Saturday.
• It was the first win over the Billikens since 2017 for Davidson.
• Anela Davis finished with 11 kills and eight blocks in the win and was later named the A-10 Player of the Week for her efforts.
• Davis ranks third in the A-10 with 1.12 blocks per set.
• As a team, the Wildcats slot third in the league with 2.14 blocks per set.
• Isabel Decker finished with a match-high 15 kills against SLU and was tabbed the A-10 Rookie of the Week.
• Decker ranks second on the Wildcats and ninth in the A-10 with 2.87 kills per set.
• Bella Brady leads the A-10 and ranks sixth in Division I with 5.67 digs per set.
• She is a five-time A-10 Defensive Player of the Week this season.

SCOUTING THE RAMS (ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS)

• VCU heads into the weekend 11-10 overall and 6-2 in conference play.
• The Rams will open the weekend with a highly-anticipated match against league-leading Dayton on Friday night.
• VCU leads the Atlantic 10 in kills per set (13.11) and hitting percentage (.234).
• The Rams are coming off of a dominant 3-0 win over Saint Louis last weekend.
• VCU hit .347 and controlled both sides of the net with 59 digs.
• Jasmine Knight and Kialah Jefferson each finished with 11 kills in the win.
• Knight hit .455 on the evening. She ranks second in the A-10 with a .332 hitting percentage.