PITTSBURGH – The Duquesne University volleyball team lost to the Fordham Rams in three sets Saturday at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse. The two teams split the two matches this weekend.

Duquesne falls to 6-20 (3-11 A-10) while Fordham moves to 10-14 (4-9 A-10).  

Between the seven sets played by these teams the past two days, only one was decided by more than five points, which was the third set today.

Once again, the Dukes outblocked the Rams 11-7 today, but it wasn't enough to win. Duquesne hit just .138 compared to Fordham's .254.

Freshman Carsyn Henschen led Duquesne offensively, hitting .233 with 12 kills. She had 25 kills between the two matches this weekend. She also had four blocks.

Graduate student Elizabeth Osborn and senior Morgan Kelly each had seven kills today. Osborn recorded two blocks while Kelly pitched in with one of her own.

Freshman Ariel Helm had four blocks to go along with her two kills.

Senior Hailey Poling had 27 assists in this one, but added four blocks to her stat line.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Dukes dropped the first set, but similar to yesterday's match, it wasn't by a wide margin. Duquesne went up 5-1, but it was tied back up in the snap of a finger. After that, the teams went back-and-forth until Fordham took a commanding 22-18 lead late. The Dukes took a couple points, but not enough to grab the victory as they fell 25-22.

Set two was even tighter than the first, but Fordham found a way to win this one as well. This set had a wild 21 ties, with the latest one being at 24-24, sending this one to extra time. Unfortunately for Duquesne, it was Fordham who took five out of the last six points to win this set 27-25, putting the Dukes down two sets to none.

For the first time all weekend, this set was not relatively close as Fordham found another gear and won it 25-15. It started the same as all the others as Duquesne held a 9-8 lead, but then Fordham went on a 6-1 run to take a commanding 14-10 lead. It was by no means over, but at 15-12, the Rams went on another run, this time 7-1, which put them up 19-12. From there, the writing was on the wall and the sweep was finished off by Fordham.

GAME NOTES

• Henschen's 249 kills on the year rank seventh in the conference.
• Kelly sits right behind her teammate Henschen in eighth-place in the A-10 with 238 kills.
• With her 13^th assist tonight, Poling moved into 6^th-place all-time in assists at Duquesne. She had 27 total today.  
• Helm has 81 blocks this season to lead the Dukes. That ranks sixth in the conference.

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