ST. LOUIS – The Dukes battled all night, but were defeated by Saint Louis in five sets in the regular-season finale Saturday night at Chaifetz Pavilion.
 
The Billikens (18-11, 11-5 A-10) won the match by set scores of 22-25, 25-12, 23-25, 25-19, 16-14.
 
The Duquesne University volleyball team (12-15, 7-9 A-10) will enter the Atlantic 10 Championship as the No. 5 seed and will play No. 4 seed Davidson in a first round match on Friday, Nov. 19 at 2:30 p.m. inside UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse. Duquesne is the host for the entire three-day A-10 Championship.
 
Summer Slade (Lancaster, N.Y./St. Mary's) led the Dukes with a kill-dig double-double of 16 kills and a 20 digs. Morgan Kelly (Florence, Ky./Cooper) paced Slade with 12 kills.
 
Hailey Poling (Uniontown, Ohio/Lake) dished out 35 assists and chipped in 17 digs, while Camille Spencer (Brentwood, Tenn./Ravenwood) posted 16 digs.
 
The Dukes finished with a season-best 11 service aces in the loss. Both Anna Shoemake (Dayton, Ohio/Beavercreek) and Brittne Weigand (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington) had four apiece. 
 
Jillian Mattingly led Saint Louis with 21 kills, while Maya Taylor and Delaney Rice each had 14 to lead the Billikens.
 
The Dukes will enter post-season play on Friday, Nov. 13 when it takes on Davidson at 2:30 p.m. in an opening round match of the A-10 Championship. The match, and the entire event, will broadcast on ESPN+.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• After a 5-2 deficit to start the night, the Dukes mounted a 7-1 run to take a 9-6 lead in the opening set. Although the Billikens managed to tie the set at 14-14, Duquesne never trailed and held off SLU for a 25-22 win in the first set.
• Saint Louis took leads of 12-5 and 21-9 in the second set, before evening the match up at one set apiece at 25-12.
• SLU led 5-1, 14-9 and eventually 19-12 in the third set. The Dukes answered with an 11-3 run, which included seven-straight points, to take a 23-22 lead. After SLU finally ended the run, kills by Slade and Shoemake clinched the come-from-behind set win at 25-23.
• The Billikens scored the first seven points in the fourth set to put the Dukes in the hole. Duquesne started to string points together and drew within five at 23-18, but SLU picked up the final two points to force a decisive fifth set.
• The Dukes got off to a great start with an 8-1 lead to start the fifth set. The Billikens clawed back to tie the set at 12-12, but it was Duquesne that had the first match-point at 14-13 following a Kelly kill. Unfortunately, the Billikens collected each of the next three points to secure the win and also clinch the No. 3 seed in the upcoming A-10 Championship.