KINGSTON, R.I. – The Dukes picked up a massive road Atlantic 10 win in five sets at Rhode Island Friday evening inside the Keaney Gymnasium.
 
Duquesne (10-13, 5-7 A-10) defeated the Rams (11-15, 3-7 A-10) by set scores of 15-25, 25-17, 27-25, 18-25, 15-13.
 
Summer Slade (Lancaster, N.Y./St. Mary's) matched a season-high with 17 kills on 42 attacks. She finished with a .286 hitting percentage, which was a season-best with more than 30 swings.
 
Anita Parrott (League City, Texas/Clear Falls) registered a career-high with 12 kills. She hit .375 on the evening and added a trio of blocks (two solo).
 
Both Morgan Kelly (Florence, Ky./Cooper) and Anna Shoemake (Dayton, Ohio/Beavercreek) finished with eight kills, apiece. Kelly, who leads the Dukes and ranks fourth in the A-10 with 3.51 kills per set, made her first appearance since the Oct. 17 match versus Rhode Island.
 
Hailey Poling (Uniontown, Ohio/Lake) guided the offense with 42 assists, while chipping in 14 digs and four blocks on defense. Camille Spencer (Brentwood, Tenn./Ravenwood) paced the team's defensive efforts with 18 digs.
 
Ego Onu (Lansdale, Pa./Lansdale Catholic) registered a season-high with eight blocks to go alone with five kills.
 
Rhode Island held a 58 to 55 edge in kills and enjoyed an 8-to-5 advantage in service aces, but the Dukes doubled up the Rams with a 12-to-6 advantage in blocks.
 
The Rams' Jamie Smith led all players with 20 kills in the loss.
 
Duquesne will trek down I-95 into the Bronx, New York to take on Fordham tomorrow, Saturday, Oct. 30. The match will start around 6 p.m. and will broadcast on ESPN+.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Rhode Island held the early edge, but a block by Shoemake pulled the Dukes within one at 10-9. The Rams countered with a 9-3 run to put Duquesne in a 19-12 hole, before URI closed the first set at 25-15.
• The Dukes raced out to a 7-2 advantage behind a pair of kills and a block by Parrott. Rhode Island managed to slice the DUQ lead down to 11-8, before 6-2 run rebuilt the Dukes cushion back to 17-10. The Rams made one more push, drawing back to within five at 22-17, but a kill by Onu and a pair of attack errors clinched the set at 25-17.
• The third set went back-and-forth. A service ace gave the Rams their first two-point lead in the set to that point at 13-11. URI clung to the narrow lead, before the Dukes managed to finally even the score at 22-22 on a Slade service ace and a block by Poling and Onu. Rhode Island appeared to be on its way to the set win when it went ahead 24-22, but Duquesne rallied back to even the match at 24-24, before taking the lead in the match with a 27-25 set win.
• The Dukes got off to a great start when they opened up a 7-3 lead on a Shoemake kill. Rhode Island countered with a 6-2 run to put DUQ in a 12-9 hole. Although the Dukes closed the gap back to 16-15, they were never able to grab the lead and the Rams went on to win the set at 25-18 to force a decisive fifth frame.
• Duquesne had the lead early in the fifth set at 8-5 on a block by Poling and Onu. Rhode Island managed to draw even at 9-9, but the Dukes never relinquished the lead and despite tie scores at nine, 10, 12 and 13. Duquesne closed out the match with back-to-back points on a block and a Slade kill to pick up the huge victory on the road.