KENT, Ohio – The Duquesne volleyball team (5-6) rallied from a 2-1 deficit to defeat Kent State (5-7) in five sets to close out the Golden Flashes Invitational Saturday afternoon at the M.A.C. Center.
 
The Dukes earned the win by set scores of 25-23, 21-25, 15-25, 25-21, 16-14.
 
Outside hitters Summer Slade (Lancaster, N.Y./St. Mary's) and Morgan Kelly (Florence, Ky./Cooper) each finished with 14 kills to lead Duquesne. Slade also chipped in 12 digs on defense for a double-double, while Kelly finished with four blocks. Middle Hitter Ego Onu (Lansdale, Pa./Lansdale Catholic) also finished with double-digit kills, posting 11 in the win.
 
Setter Hailey Poling (Uniontown, Ohio/Lake) guided the offense with 50 assists and also led the team's defensive efforts with 18 digs. Poling and Slade were two of four Dukes to post double-digit dig totals. Libero Camille Spencer (Brentwood, Tenn./Ravenwood) finished with 15 and defensive specialist Ashley Larson (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Valor Christian) had 13.

For their efforts, Onu and Poling were named to the Golden Flashes Invitational All-Tournament Team.
 
Duquesne has wrapped up non-conference games and will head into Atlantic 10 play on Friday, Sept. 24 when it travels to Fairfax, Virginia to take on George Mason. The match is set for 7 p.m. and will broadcast on ESPN+.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Kent State held leads of 18-14 and 23-20 and appeared to be on its way in the first set. Duquesne rallied with five-straight points following a timeout, including a set-clinching kill by Kelly to pull out a 25-23 win.
• The Golden Flashes had the Dukes facing a deficit for the majority of the second set, until DU finally went ahead at 21-20 on an attack error that forced a Kent State timeout. The Golden Flashes countered out of the timeout with five-straight points of their own to sneak out a 25-21 win to even the match up.
• Duquesne never held the lead in the third set, as Kent State maintained momentum and cruised to a 25-15 win to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
• The fourth set was played with little separating the two squads. After tie scores at 16, 17, 18 & 19, the Dukes managed to run off a trio of points to establish a 22-19 edge. Kent State managed to bring it back to a one-point game at 22-21, but kills by Onu, Morgan and Parrott secured the win at 25-21 to force a fifth set.
• Kent State put the Dukes in the hole early in the fifth set. DU trailed by scores of 7-4 and 8-5, before going on a run to tie the set at 9-9. Duquesne trailed 12-11, but three-straight points, including back-to-back blocks, pulled the Dukes to match-point at 14-12. Although Kent State managed to tie the set at 14, a service error and a match-clinching kill by Anna Shoemake (Dayton, Ohio/Beavercreek) completed the comeback win.