PITTSBURGH – The Duquesne volleyball team (7-9, 2-3 A-10) was defeated in three sets by Saint Louis (12-6, 5-0 A-10) Friday evening in an Atlantic 10 match inside UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.
 
The Billikens won by set scores of 25-23, 25-13 and 25-14.
 
Summer Slade (Rochester, N.Y./St. Mary's) was one shy of a season-high with 16 kills. Her previous season-high in a three-set match was 10.
 
Camille Spencer (Brentwood, Tenn./Ravenwood) paced the defense with 16 digs, while Hailey Poling (Uniontown, Ohio/Lake) led the Dukes with 26 assists.
 
Duquesne hit .293 with 16 kills on 41 attacks (four errors) in their narrow first-set loss. The Billikens limited the Dukes to hitting percentages of .088 and .029 in the ensuing two sets. DU ended the match hitting .147, compared to the .389 posted by SLU.
 
Saint Louis finished with a 10-to-1 advantage in blocks. Jillian Mattingly, who leads the A-10 in the category, finished with seven.
 
Emily Henken led Saint Louis offensively with 12 kills.
 
The Dukes are back in action tomorrow, Saturday, October 8 when they welcome VCU to the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse. The match is slated to start at 5 p.m.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Dukes took an 8-4 lead on six Slade kills to force a SLU timeout early in the first set. After the Billikens tied the set at 9-9, a Kelly kill gave DU the lead back at 10-9. Both teams traded points, but the Dukes maintained the lead. Saint Louis went on a run late and reclaimed the lead at 20-19 and eventually put Duquesne in a 22-19 hole. A Kelly kill made the score 23-22, but the Billikens held off the Dukes to take the first set 25-23.
• Saint Louis put the Dukes in a 7-3 deficit early, but a run capped off by back-to-back Slade kills narrowed the gap to 9-8. SLU responded with five-straight points to open up a 14-8 advantage and forced a DU timeout. The Billikens kept momentum following the TO and went on to claim a 25-13 win.
• Back-to-back kills by Slade gave the Dukes a 5-2 lead early in the third set. SLU went on a 7-1 run to put DU in an 9-6 hole. After a pair of service errors by the Billikens brought the score to 10-8, Saint Louis limited the Dukes to six more points to collect a 25-14 win to clinch the match.