PREVIEW: Volleyball Hosts Fordham this Weekend

PITTSBURGH – The Duquesne volleyball team hosts the Fordham Rams for two matches this weekend. Friday's match begins at 6:00 P.M. ET, while Saturday's match will begin at 3:00 P.M.

Saturday's match will also be Duquesne's 13^th annual Dig Pink Game. The Dukes partner with the Side-Out Foundation to help raise money for breast cancer research and will be wearing pink shirts pregame.

Fans are encouraged to wear pink to show their support.

Only Friday's match will be available to stream on ESPN+, but live stats will be available for both matches.

SERIES BREAKDOWN VS. FORDHAM

All-Time Series: Duquesne is 38-6 all-time against Fordham
First Meeting: Oct. 7, 1995 at FOR – DUQ won 3-0
Last Meeting: Oct. 30, 2021 at FOR – FOR won 3-1 | Recap | Box Score
Streak: Fordham, W1

THE DUKES

Duquesne is 5-19 overall and 2-10 in conference play. The Dukes are 2-3 in their last five and are coming off a Tuesday night loss to Dayton.
Last weekend the Dukes got swept by George Mason Friday, but flipped the script and swept the Patriots Saturday.
Senior Morgan Kelly is first on the team with 2.82 kills per set, which ranks ninth in the conference. Her 220 kills rank eighth in the A-10. She has 26 kills in her last six sets.
Freshman Carsyn Henschen leads the team and ranks seventh in the A-10 with 224 kills. Henschen was named to the Duquesne/RMU Invitational All-Tournament Team Sept. 3 after totaling 41 kills and seven service aces in the three matches.
Freshman Ariel Helm leads the team with 74 blocks this year, which ranks seventh in the conference. She has 11 blocks in the last two matches.
Senior Anita Parrott has 18 blocks in her last five matches. She was named to the Penn State Invitational All-Tournament Team the first weekend of the season. She recorded 15 kills and 1.1 blocks per set in the three matches.
Senior setter Hailey Poling is second in the conference with 738 assists and ranks second with 8.58 assists per set. She led the A-10 with 1,114 assists in 2021.
Poling is 13 assists away from moving into sole possession of sixth-place all-time in Duquesne history.
Freshman Madison Grimm leads the Dukes and ranks ninth in the conference with 280 digs. She has 16 games this season with 10 or more digs.
The Dukes are coming off of a 13-16 (7-9 A-10) season that ended in the A-10 Championship semifinals against the eventual-champion Dayton in a five-set thriller.
Three of the Dukes' top four point-getters return for the 2022 season.
Duquesne was picked to finish sixth in the A-10 by the league's coach in the 2022 Atlantic 10 Preseason Poll.

DUQUESNE HEAD COACH STEVE OPPERMAN (Ohio State '87)

Steve Opperman enters his 25^th season as the head coach of the Dukes in 2021.
He owns a career-record of 467-485 and a mark of 347-368 at Duquesne.
Opperman collected his 450^th-career victory with a 3-0 win over Youngstown State in the 2021 season opener.
The New Bremen, Ohio native is Duquesne's all-time winningest coach with 344 career victories on The Bluff.
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 16 First or Second Team A-10 All-Conference players (a total of 24 times).
He has coached 23 A-10 All-Rookie Team members.
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 FORDHAM (ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS)

Fordham is 9-13 overall and 3-8 in conference play. The Rams currently sit in seventh-place in the conference.
Fordham has lost four out of its last five matches and dropped both matches to Davidson this past weekend.
Junior Whitley Moody leads the team with 290 kills and 3.54 kills per set, which both rank second in the conference.
Senior setter Megan Brzozowski has 622 assists, which ranks fourth in the league.
Defensively, senior Chloe Pejouan has 94 blocks to lead the Rams, which ranks fifth in the A-10. Mallory Lipski's 384 digs are the third-most in the conference.
Fordham was picked to finish seventh by the league's coaches this season.
In 2021, Fordham went 10-20 overall and 5-11 in conference play.
Ian Choi is in his fifth year as the head coach of the Rams.