SAINT LOUIS - Duquesne (0-3, 0-3 A10), playing its second road match in three days, suffered a straight-set defeat (22-25, 24-26, 13-25) at Saint Louis (6-6, 5-1) on Sunday afternoon at Chaifetz Pavilion.

Summer Slade led Duquesne with 10 kills followed by Morgan Kelly with 9 and Maria Mosbacher with 8. Haley Poling added 23 assists for the Dukes who hit .148.

Anita Parrott had a match-high five block assists for DU.

Maya Taylor had a match-high 23 kills (.353) for Saint Louis which hit .268. SLU finished with nine service aces on the afternoon.

Duquesne returns home for three matches in three days, beginning with a return match with Saint Louis on Friday, Mar. 5 at 7:00 p.m. at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse (ESPN+). DU will remain home to host Davidson at 4:00 p.m. Saturday (ESPN+) and Noon on Sunday.


HOW IT HAPPENED

• Set one was a tight affair with Duquesne's Morgan Kelly and Saint Louis' Maya Taylor exchanging kills early. Olivia Alessi's service ace tied it at 10-10. SLU reeled off three-straight points to take a 16-12 lead and force a Dukes timeout. Camryn Thomas ended the run with a kill and the Dukes cut the lead to one on a Summer Slade ace causing the Billikens to call at timeout with the score 16-15. DU took a 17-16 lead on a Kelly kill, before SLU rallied to take a 19-17 lead on back-to-back aces. A third SLU ace made it 21-18 before Anita Parrott and Kelly combined for a block to cut it to 21-19. The score was 22-21 when Saint Louis called its second timeout. Taylor's eighth and ninth kills gave SLU a 24-21 lead. Slade's kill made it 24-22 before Taylor, who had 10 kills, ended the set. Kelly and Slade led DU with five and three kills respectively. Ashley Larson had nine digs and Haley Poling added seven assists. There were four ties and three lead changes in the set. DU hit .237 to .273 for SLU.
   
• SLU opened set two with three-straight points off Taylor serves before DU ended the run on a Kelly kill following a long rally. The Dukes added two more points off Poling serves to tie it at 3-3. Duquesne tied it a 10-10 on a SLU attack error and went up 11-10 on a Parrott/Kelly block. Maria Mosbacher added a kill to make it 12-10 and force a Saint Louis timeout. Mosbacher added another kill and Poling followed with an ace to complete a 6-0 run that made it 14-10. Another Mosbacher kill and Parrott block made it 16-11. SLU pulled to within 18-15 before DU called a timeout. The Dukes ended a 4-0 Saint Louis run with a Slade kill to make it 19-17. Slade added another kill to make it 20-18. DU reeled off two more points off Slade's serve to take a 22-18 lead and force a SLU timeout. Saint Louis rallied to tie it at 23-23 causing a DU timeout. SLU's Taylor made back-to-back kills to give Saint Louis the set 26-24. There were five ties and two lead changes in the set. Slade had four kills and Mosbacher and Kelly had three each for the Dukes.
   
• Saint Louis used the momentum from its set two close to take a 5-0 lead in set three. Mosbacher ended the run with a kill following a DU timeout. Taylor's 21st kill gave SLU a 7-2 lead. Duquesne pulled to within two at 10-8 on a SLU service error. The Billikens went on to score 11 of the next 13 points to take a 21-10 lead, before going on to finish off the set.