PITTSBURGH – The Duquesne volleyball team dropped a 3-1 decision to first-place Saint Louis in an Atlantic 10 matchup on Friday night at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse. The Dukes (0-4, 0-4 A-10) took the first set by a score of 26-24 before the Billikens (7-6, 6-1 A-10) countered with three straight set victories (25-19, 25-15, 25-19).
 
In the first frame, the Dukes were facing set point with the Billikens holding a 24-22 advantage when a SLU service error ignited a 4-0 Duquesne run. Morgan Kelly registered a kill before a pair of Billiken attack errors sealed the come-from-behind set victory for the Dukes.
 
Hailey Poling tallied eight assists in the opening stanza while Summer Slade recorded six digs and Anita Parrott registered three blocks.
 
The Billikens jumped out to a 20-9 lead in the second set, when Duquesne rallied with a 10-2 run including a 6-0 surge to shrink the deficit to 22-19. Morgan Kelly had a pair of kills while Maria Mosbacher and Anita Parrott recorded two block assists apiece.
 
However, SLU was able to hold off the Dukes' surge, scoring the final three points of the set to even it up at 1-1.
 
The Billikens built a 19-5 advantage to start the third set, but much like the second stanza, the Dukes responded with a run. A Camryn Thomas kill off the assist by Poling fueled a 9-2 spurt to minimize SLU's lead to 21-14. Thomas keyed the run with a trio of kills for Duquesne.
 
The Billikens were again able to stave off the Dukes' comeback by scoring four of the final five points of the third set, gaining a 2-1 edge over Duquesne.
 
SLU held an 18-13 lead in the fourth set before the Dukes went on a 4-1 run with kills by Thomas and Kelly to cut the deficit to 19-17. Unfortunately for Duquesne, that sparked a 6-2 surge by the Billikens to secure the 25-19 set win and 3-1 match victory.
 
Kelly paced the Dukes with 12 kills on the night while Poling dished out 34 assists in the contest. Ashley Larson tallied a team-high 14 digs and Parrott recorded nine block nine blocks for Duquesne.
 
Maya Taylor notched a game-high 16 kills and Kennedy Cordia had 42 assists to lead all players.
 
 
NEXT UP
The Dukes are right back in action tomorrow night, hosting Davidson at 7 p.m. at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.