PITTSBURGH – The Duquesne University volleyball team took down the Fordham Rams 3-1 Friday night at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.  

Duquesne improves to 6-19 (3-10 A-10) while Fordham falls to 9-14 (3-9 A-10).  

All four sets were close, with neither team winning a set by more than five points, but Duquesne was the side that came up with the clutch points.

The Dukes had four players with 11 or more kills to lead them offensively. Senior Anita Parrott, graduate student Elizabeth Osborn and freshman Carsyn Henschen all reached 13 kills while senior Morgan Kelly had some huge points herself, putting up 11 kills.

Parrott's big offensive night still may have been overshadowed by her defensive effort, as she had a season-high eight blocks against the Rams. On the night, the team had 13 blocks, which is tied for the second-most this season.

Freshman Ariel Helm had six kills and three blocks. Kelly had three blocks while Osborn had two more.

Senior Hailey Poling had 51 assists tonight, which is the second-highest total of the season for her.

Duquesne hit .200 as a team while Fordham hit just .173. In a close match like this, attack errors can hurt you and that was the case tonight. Fordham had 29 attack errors, seven more than Duquesne.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The first set was close the entire time, which was a common theme tonight. Neither team had more than a three-point lead, and the two teams needed a couple extra points to settle the opening set. Being up 23-22, Fordham had the slight advantage late, but Duquesne would go on to score four out of the next five points after a timeout to win the first set 26-24.

Set two went nearly identical to the first. Fordham once again led 23-22, but this time, it was able to finish the set off. The Rams scored four-straight points to win this set.

In the third set, Duquesne actually had a relatively big lead in what were four tight sets tonight, as the Dukes led 19-15 in the third. Despite this, Fordham would go on to score four-straight to tie it at 19-19. Following another late Duquesne timeout, the Dukes scored six out of the next eight points to win this set 25-21.

In the final set, nothing changed. The two teams went punch-for-punch and were tied 10-10 before Duquesne took a small lead for the rest of the way. After going on a 5-2 run, Duquesne led 22-17. The two teams then traded 3-0 runs, but that would be enough for Duquesne to win 25-20.

GAME NOTES

• Henschen's 237 kills on the year rank seventh in the conference.
• After 11 kills tonight, Kelly sits right behind her teammate Henschen in eighth-place in the A-10 with 231 kills.
• After her 51 assists tonight, Poling has 2,560 in her career and needs just 13 more kills to move into 6^th-place all-time in assists at Duquesne.
• Osborn has 11 or more kills in two of her last three matches.
• Helm has 77 blocks this season to lead the Dukes. That ranks seventh in the conference.
• Duquesne is 3-3 in its past six matches.

FOLLOW THE DUKES
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