PITTSBURGH – The Duquesne volleyball team will close out the non-conference portion of its schedule with a visit to the Golden Flashes Invitational hosted by Kent State on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 17-18.
 
The Dukes will open play on Friday with a rematch of their season-opening match against Youngstown State at 6 p.m. and conclude play against Kent State on Saturday at 4 p.m.
 
SERIES BREAKDOWN VS. YOUNGSTOWN STATE

• All-Time Series: Duquesne leads, 20-9
• First Meeting: Nov. 8, 1986 at Youngstown State – DU won 3-2
• Last Meeting: Aug. 27, 2021 at Youngstown State – DU won 3-0 I Recap | Box Score
• Streak: Duquesne, +1

SERIES BREAKDOWN VS. KENT STATE

• All-Time Series: Kent State leads, 7-1
• First Meeting: Oct. 28, 1988 at Duquesne – KSU won 3-1
• Last Meeting: Aug. 29, 2015 at Maryland – KSU won 3-1 I Recap | Box Score
• Streak: Kent State, +1

QUICK HITS

• This will be the third time in program history that the Dukes travel to Kent State for a preseason event. Duquesne competed in both the 2008 and 2010 Kent State Mizuno Opens.
• The Dukes went 1-2 in 2008, dropping matches to Ohio State and Kent State, before closing the event with a win over Chicago State.
• In 2010, Duquesne sandwiched wins over Kent State and Louisiana Monroe with a loss to Syracuse. The victory over Kent State in 2010 is the only win the Dukes have over the Golden Flashes in eight previous meetings.
• The Dukes and Penguins will be facing off for the second time this season. Duquesne picked up a 3-0 win over YSU in both team's season-opening match at the YSU Invite last month.
• Summer Slade led the Dukes with a kill-dig double-double of 10 kills and 11 digs (both team highs) in that victory.
• The Dukes enter the Golden Flashes Invitational after winning one out of three at the Western New York Invitational last weekend in Buffalo.
• Outside hitter Morgan Kelly broke a 22-year old Duquesne record for kills in a three-set match when she put down 20 in the win over Canisius at the event.
• The previous record of 19 was set by both Anita Ball (09/04/99 vs. Bowling Green) and Mindy Buhrow (10/10/98 vs. Dayton).
• Kelly finished with just four errors on 44 attacks (.364 hitting percentage) in the win. She averaged 4.50 kills per set and hit .229 during the team's trip to Buffalo.
• Kelly, who leads the A-10 with 4.03 kills per set, established a career-high with 24 kills on 60 attacks (.217 hitting percentage) in a five-set loss to Akron earlier this season.
• Setter Hailey Poling currently leads the A-10 with 9.89 assists per set, which ranks 73 in the NCAA. Poling posted a career-high 58 assists earlier this season in the loss to Akron.
• Middle Hitter Anita Parrott leads the A-10 and ranks 21^st in the NCAA with 44 total blocks. Her 1.26 blocks per set is good for second in the league and 66^th across Division I. Parrott has matched a career-high with nine blocks twice this season in matches versus Akron and Liberty.
• Duquesne will play each of its first 13 matches on the road, including all 11 of its non-conference matches. The Dukes will play their home-opener on Friday, October 1 against Dayton at 7 p.m.
• Three of Duquesne's five losses have come in five sets. After not playing any five-set matches in the spring, the Dukes have already played in as many five-set matches this season as they did in the entire 2019 season.DU went 2-1 in five-set matches in 2019.
• The Dukes were picked to finish fifth in the annual Atlantic 10 Preseason Volleyball Poll.
• Duquesne is coming off of a 1-8 mark in the abbreviated spring 2021 season.
• Duquesne played eight of its nine matches this past spring against league front-runners Dayton, VCU and Saint Louis.

DUQUESNE HEAD COACH STEVE OPPERMAN (Ohio State '87)

• Steve Opperman enters his 24^th season as the head coach of the Dukes in 2021.
• He owns a career-record of 453-454 and a mark of 334-339 at Duquesne.
• Opperman collected his 450^th-career victory with a 3-0 win over Youngstown State in the season opener.
• The New Bremen, Ohio native is Duquesne's all-time winningest coach with 333 career victories.
• He is a four-time Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year (co-2001, co-2004, co-2010 and 2013).
• Opperman coached the first two AVCA All-Americans in program history, Liz Homan (2010) and Arielle Love (2014).
• The Ohio State alum has coached 14 First or Second Team A-10 All-Conference players (a total of 22 times).
• He has coached 22 A-10 All-Rookie Team member.
• Opperman arrived in Pittsburgh in 1998 after spending seven seasons as the head coach at Wright State, where he amassed a record of 119-116 from 1991-97.

SCOUTING THE PENGUINS (ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS)

• Youngstown State enters the event 2-7 overall with wins over Saint Francis and North Dakota.
• The Penguins traveled to Toledo's Blue & Gold Tournament and were defeated by Valparaiso, South Dakota State and Toledo.
• YSU will open the Golden Flashes Invitational on Thursday night against Kent State.
• Outside Hitter Paula Gursching has posted double-digit kills in all nine matches, including a season-high 21 in a five-set loss to South Dakota State.
• Gursching leads the Horizon League and currently slots 40^th in the NCAA with 4.16 kills per set. Her 410 total attacks is the 13^th-most in Division I this season.
• Youngstown State is coming off of a 3-11 spring season.
• The Penguins were picked 10th in the Horizon League Preseason Poll.

SCOUTING THE GOLDEN FLASHES (ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS)

• Kent State enters the event 4-6 overall and winners of just one of their last six matches.
• The Golden Flashes picked up a win over Delaware and were defeated by Wichita State and Kansas in their other two matches.
• Savannah Matthews led Kent State with 19 kills in the five-set win over Delaware. She leads the team with 3.43 kills per set.
• Kent State currently leads the MAC and ranks 64^th in the NCAA with 2.39 blocks per set. They also rank 14^th nationally with 91.0 total blocks. Danie Tyson (1.00) and Ainsley Guse (0.97) are among the leaders in the MAC in blocks per set.
• The Golden Flashes were picked to finish second in the MAC East Division in the preseason after going 12-9 during the spring season.

UP NEXT

• The Dukes will open up Atlantic 10 play next Friday and Saturday, Sept. 24 and 25 with a trip to the national's capital.
• DU will start the conference slate against George Mason on Friday at 7 p.m. in Fairfax, Virginia before closing out the weekend on Saturday against George Washington at 5 p.m.
• Both matches will broadcast on ESPN+.