RICHMOND, Va. – The Duquesne volleyball team (9-13, 4-7 A-10) battled all match, but was defeated 3-1 by VCU (12-11, 7-3 A-10) Sunday afternoon in a league matchup.
 
The Rams won by set scores of 25-20, 25-22, 23-25, 25-15.
 
Summer Slade (Lancaster, N.Y./St. Mary's) led the Dukes with 13 kills and was a dig shy of a double-double with nine digs.
 
Ashley Larson (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Valor Christian) chipped in eight kills and 20 digs on defense. Anita Parrott (League City, Texas/Clear Falls) matched Larson's eight kills and chipped in five blocks.
 
Ego Onu (Lansdale, Pa./Lansdale Catholic) led the defense with seven blocks, while Anna Shoemake (Dayton, Ohio/Beavercreek) paced her with six. The Dukes finished with 12 total blocks – tied for the second-most in a single-match this season.
 
Setters Hailey Poling (Uniontown, Ohio/Lake) and Riley Speelman (Hilliard, Ohio/Hilliard Bradley) tossed around 23 and 16 assists. Speelman also chipped in 11 digs, while Camille Spencer (Brentwood, Tenn./Ravenwood) posted a team-high 23 in the loss.
 
VCU held a slight edge with 55 kills to the Dukes' 49 in the match. Both team's finished with 12 blocks and four aces.
 
The win in the third set was the first set win against VCU since 2017. The Rams had swept each of the last six meetings with the Dukes.
 
Jovana Vukcevic led the Rams with a match-best 15 kills.
 
The Dukes are back in action on Friday, Oct. 29 when it travels to take on Rhode Island. The match is set for 6 p.m. and will broadcast on ESPN+.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• VCU opened leads of 5-1 and 13-6 in the first set. The Dukes rallied with five-straight points, including a trio of kills by Parrott to make the score 13-11. Duquesne came all the way back with a 4-1 spurt, capped off by a Spencer ace, to tie the set at 15-15. The set was tied three more times, including at 20-20. The Rams closed out the set with the final five points, including a trio of attack errors by the Dukes, to win 25-20.
• The Rams once again started the set with a 5-1 lead, but Duquesne rolled off four-straight of its own to tie the second set at 5-5. VCU reclaimed the lead, but the Dukes deficit was never more than four points. DU trailed 16-13 when it went on a 5-2 run to even the score at 18-18. Although the Dukes kept the score close, VCU managed to escape with a 25-22 win and a 2-0 lead in the match.
• Duquesne led by scores of 5-3 and 10-8 early in the third set. After VCU tied the match at 10-10, the Dukes went on a 6-2 run to take its largest lead of the day at 16-12. DU held at least a two-point cushion until the Rams made the score 24-23 late, but Camryn Thomas (Eldred, Pa./Otto-Eldred) delivered the clinching kill to give Duquesne the set win at 25-23.
• VCU came out swinging in the fourth set and established an 11-4 lead early. The Dukes played from behind during the entirety of the fourth set, allowing VCU to pull away for a 25-15 set win to secure the match.