PITTSBURGH – Despite winning each of the first two sets, the Duquesne volleyball team was dealt a heart-breaking five-set loss to top-seed Dayton in the Atlantic 10 Championship semifinals Saturday afternoon at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.
 
The Dukes (13-16) won the first two sets 25-22 and 25-19, but the Flyers (24-5) mounted a comeback with set wins of 25-18, 25-23 and 15-7 to escape with the win and a berth in the A-10 Championship match tomorrow afternoon.
 
Summer Slade (Lancaster, N.Y./St. Mary's) had a career day for the Dukes in defeat. Slade established career highs with both 27 kills and 23 digs. She hit .247 and chipped in two blocks. The 27 kills was only three-shy of the Duquesne single-match record in a five-set match.
 
Morgan Kelly (Florence, Ky./Cooper) tallied 19 kills and hit .238, while Anna Shoemake (Dayton, Ohio/Beavercreek) added 10 kills for Duquesne.
 
Hailey Poling (Uniontown, Ohio/Lake) dished out 56 assists – two-shy of a career-high – and setup an offense that hit .215 for the afternoon. The Dukes recorded 20 kills and hit .429 in the second-set win alone. Poling also added 18 digs and three blocks (one solo) defensively.
 
Camille Spencer (Brentwood, Tenn./Ravenwood) paced the backline with 28 digs, while Ashley Larson (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Valor Christian) finished with 17. The team's 108 digs were the most in a single-match since 2017.
 
Three-time A-10 Player of the Year Jamie Peterson led the Flyers with 26 kills on 81 swings (23.5 percent), while Lexie Almodovar finished with 21 kills.
 
The Dukes had not won a set against Dayton in any of the past five matches. It was also the first time that Duquesne had won multiple sets against the Flyers since the 2013 A-10 Semifinals when the Dukes earned a 3-1 win. That Duquesne team went on to win the Atlantic 10 Championship.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Dukes trailed 6-5 in the opening set when they notched five-straight points to go up 10-6. After Dayton made the score 11-9, Duquesne went on a 5-2 run to take a 16-11 lead. Dayton managed to draw back within one, 22-21, but kills by Kelly and a block by Anita Parrott (League City, Texas/Clear Falls) clinched a 25-22 win in the set.
• The Dukes proved that the first set win was not a fluke in the second stanza. With the score tied at 10, Duquesne went on a 10-5 run to establish a 20-15 lead. Dayton managed to draw back within five, 22-17, but the Dukes put away the Flyers with a Shoemake kill to take a two-set lead and plant a seed of doubt within the Dayton faithful in attendance.
• The two squads went back and forth early in the third set. The Dukes held an 8-7 edge, but Dayton answered with five-straight points to take a 12-8 lead. The Flyers did not relinquish the lead and went on to win 25-18.
• The fourth set was well on its way to going the Dukes way, before a late rally got the Flyers back into the driver's seat. Duquesne held leads of 12-5 and 17-12, before eventually going ahead 23-19 and two points away from a berth in the A-10 Championship match. Dayton, who had used each of its timeouts early in the set, rallied back with six-straight points, including a block and a kill by Peterson on the final two plays, to steal the set at 25-23.
• The Dukes earned the first two points of the fifth set, but Dayton countered with a 7-1 run to put Duquesne in a 7-3 hole. The Dukes never got any closer, as the Flyers ended the match with a 15-7 win in the set.