RICHMOND, VA - Duquesne (1-5, 1-5 A10) fell to homestanding VCU (9-3, 3-2), 3-0, on Sunday evening at Siegel Center (25-13, 25-16, 25-13).
Morgan Kelly led the Dukes, who were victim to a trio of VCU quick starts, with nine kills.
Hailey Poling paced DU with 14 assists.
The two will meet again tomorrow at 2:00 p.m.
Following Monday's match, Duquesne will return home to close out the home portion of the 2020-21 spring season with back-to-back matches vs. Dayton on March 19 & 20. Friday's match will be at 6:00 p.m., with Saturday's set for 4:00 p.m. Both will be streamed on ESPN+.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- VCU jumped out to a 7-2 lead in set one, forcing a Duquesne timeout. The Dukes got back-to-back kills by Summer Slade and an ace from Claire Boe to pull within two. A block by Slade made it 7-6. The Dukes tied it at 9-9 on a Morgan Kelly kill. VCU had four-straight kills to make it 16-11, before a kill by Maria Mosbacher cut it to 16-12. The lead reached 18-12, prompting a DU timeout. The Rams then scored seven of the next eight points to take the set. Mosbacher had four kills for the Dukes in the set.
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- VCU got out to another early lead, this time at 8-4 before the Dukes made it 10-9 on a pair of Morgan Kelly kills. The Rams then extended their lead to 15-10 prior to a media timeout. The lead reached 17-10 before Kelly notched another kill. Kelly kept the Dukes in it with back-to-back aces to cut the lead to 19-14. VCU's Jasmine Knight posted a pair of kills to up the Rams' lead to 21-14. A Paula Neciporuka kill prompted a DU timeout with the score 23-16. VCU scored the next two points to take the set. VCU had 11 kills to 10 for Duquesne in the set, but the Dukes couldn't overcome six attack errors.
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- The Rams had another fast start, this time going up 5-1. A kill by Duquesne's Anita Parrott made the score 8-4, before VCU scored the next three points to take a seven-point lead and force a DU timeout. The Rams upped the lead to 14-4 before Camryn Thomas registered a kill. DU reeled off three-straight points to make it 16-9, but the Dukes would get no closer than seven the rest of the way. DU survived three match points, before falling 25-13.
