FAIRFAX, Va. – Led by a trio of players with double-digit kill totals, the Duquesne volleyball team (6-6, 1-0 A-10) opened Atlantic 10 play with a 3-1 win over George Mason (2-10, 0-1 A-10) Friday evening inside the Recreation and Athletic Complex.
 
The Dukes won by set scores of 25-23, 15-25, 25-14, 25-21.
 
Morgan Kelly (Florence, Ky./Cooper) finished with 16 kills to lead the DU attack. Summer Slade (Lancaster, N.Y./St. Mary's) posted a kill-dig double-double with 13 kills and 10 digs, while Anna Shoemake (Dayton, Ohio/Beavercreek) chipped in 11 kills. Shoemake was the team's most efficient hitter, posting a hitting percentage of 42.9 percent on 21 attacks (two errors).
 
Hailey Poling (Uniontown, Ohio/Lake), who entered the night leading the A-10 in assists per set, guided the offense with 43 assists, including 16 in the team's first-set win. Ashley Larson (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Valor Christian) paced the team's defensive efforts with 17 digs, while Camille Spencer (Brentwood, Tenn./Ravenwood) added 13. Larson also chipped in three service aces in the win.
 
DU finished with 56 kills, compared to the 43 posted by Mason, and hit .241 for the match. GMU finished the match hitting .195, and was held to a negative-.038 in the third set.
 
The Dukes are back in action tomorrow, Saturday, Sept. 25 when they travel to the nation's capital for a showdown with George Washington. The match is slated for 5 p.m. and will broadcast on ESPN+.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• The first set went back-and-forth early in the first set and a kill by Shoemake tied the score at 13-13. George Mason built its biggest lead of the set at 17-14 and eventually put the Dukes in a 19-16 hole. DU rallied back with seven-straight points to force a pair of Mason timeouts and move to set-point. The Patriots sliced the Duquesne lead down to one, 24-23, but Kelly's ninth kill of the first set clinched a 25-23 win.
• Mason put the Dukes in a 9-3 deficit in the second set to force a timeout. Duquesne managed to slice the hole in half on a block by Slade and Ego Onu (Lansdale, Pa./Lansdale Catholic) to make the score 10-7. Unfortunately, the Dukes were unable to get any closer. The Patriots pulled away and notched six of the final eight points of the frame to tie the match up with a 25-15 set win.
• The Dukes went into a 4-0 deficit to start the third set, but rallied back and eventually took a 10-8 lead as part of a run of four-straight points. After a Mason point sliced the lead in half, Duquesne rolled off six-straight points to race out to a commanding 16-9 advantage. The Patriots drew within four at 18-14, but a run of seven-straight points on Larson serves secured the set at 25-14.
• There was little separating the two teams through the first half of the fourth set. Although Duquesne took the lead at 10-9 and never relinquished it, Mason made things interesting throughout. DU was on the cusp of putting the match away when it took a 22-18 lead that forced a George Mason timeout. Although the Patriots scored three-straight points to force a Duquesne timeout, the Dukes put the match away with a Slade kill and a pair of Mason attack errors.