PITTSBURGH – The Duquesne volleyball team earned a three-set sweep (26-24, 25-20, 25-20) over fourth-seeded Davidson in the first round of the Atlantic 10 Championship Friday afternoon at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.
 
The Dukes (13-15), seeded fifth, advance to Saturday's A-10 Semifinals where they will take on top-seed Dayton (23-5) at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse. The semifinal match will begin at 1:30 p.m.
 
Duquesne was led by Summer Slade (Lancaster, N.Y./St. Mary's) in its win over Davidson (14-13). Slade, who was named an A-10 Second Team All-Conference selection earlier in the day, finished with 13 kills and seven digs in the win. Morgan Kelly (Florence, Ky./Cooper), who was also named All-Atlantic 10 Second Team, and Anita Parrott (League City, Texas/Clear Falls) each added eight kills.
 
Setter Hailey Poling (Uniontown, Ohio/Lake) tossed around 34 assists to go with 10 digs, libero Camille Spencer (Brentwood, Tenn./Ravenwood) collected a team-high 11 digs and Brittne Weigand (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington) established a career-high with 10 digs.
 
The victory is the first A-10 Championship win since 2013, when the team took home the conference championship. The Dukes had lost each of their last five matches at the A-10 Championship. The win was also the first time Duquesne had won while serving as the host school in six tries.
 
Davidson's Hattie Rodriguez led the Wildcats with nine kills, while Bella Brady paced the defense with a match-high 16 digs.
 
The Dukes return to the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse floor tomorrow, Saturday, Nov. 20 to take on top-seed Dayton. The match will begin at 1:30 p.m. and broadcast on ESPN+.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Davidson held leads of 5-2 and 7-4 early in the match, before the Dukes went on an 8-3 spurt to take a 12-10 advantage. With the score tied at 14, went on a 9-2 run to seemingly put the set away at 23-16. The Wildcats battled all the way back with eight-straight points to reach set-point at 24-23. Duquesne bounced back with three-straight points courtesy of Ego Onu (Lansdale, Pa./Lansdale Catholic) to take the first set. Onu tied the match up with a kill, helped block the following point and put down the set-clinching kill at 26-24.
• The Dukes enjoyed a three-point cushion early in the second set, before a four-point run by Davidson made the score 10-9. Duquesne answered with a 9-3 run of its own to open up an 18-13 advantage. The Wildcats managed to slice the lead down to four at 22-18, but the Dukes closed the set out with a Slade kill at 25-20.
• Duquesne was in a 4-2 hole to start the third set, but quickly flipped the score with a 4-1 run to take an 8-5 lead. The Dukes never gave back the lead from that point forward. With the score tied at 10, Duquesne used a 6-1 spurt to create separation from the Wildcats. Although the lead dwindled down to 20-19, the Dukes finished strong. DU collected five of the next six points to close out its first A-10 Championship victory since 2013.