PITTSBURGH – The Duquesne volleyball team stays at home this weekend to host the VCU Rams for two matches.

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

SERIES BREAKDOWN VS. VCU

• All-Time Series: Duquesne is 6-16 all-time against VCU
• First Meeting: Sept. 13, 1993 Neutral – DUQ won 3-1  
• Last Meeting: Oct. 24, 2021, at VCU – VCU won 3-1 | Recap | Box Score
• Streak: VCU, W11

THE DUKES

• Duquesne is 6-20 overall and 3-11 in conference play. The Dukes are 2-2 in their last four matches.
• Last weekend the Dukes split two matches with Fordham, winning 3-1 on Friday before losing 3-0 on Saturday.
• Senior Morgan Kelly is first on the team with 2.80 kills per set, which ranks 10^th in the conference. Her 220 kills rank ninth in the A-10. She's averaging 11 kills per match over the last four.
• Freshman Carsyn Henschen leads the team and ranks seventh in the A-10 with 249 kills. She had 25 kills this past weekend and 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 81 blocks this year, which ranks sixth in the conference. She has 18 blocks in the past four matches.  
• Senior Anita Parrott has 23 blocks in her last four 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 816 assists and ranks second with 8.77 assists per set. She led the A-10 with 1,114 assists in 2021.
• Poling now ranks sixth all-time in Duquesne history with 2,638 assists.
• Freshman Madison Grimm leads the Dukes and ranks ninth in the conference with 304 digs. She has 18 matches 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 468-486 and a mark of 348-369 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 VCU (ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS)

• VCU is 12-14 overall and 7-7 in conference play. The Rams currently sit in sixth-place in the conference.
• The Rams have lost three in a row, but have won three out of their last six. They got swept by Loyola Chicago in two matches last weekend.
• Senior Qairo Bentley leads the A-10 in kills with 345 and ranks fourth with 3.29 kills per set.
• Redshirt sophomore Corinna Jones and sophomore Taylor Aguano have 471 and 464 assists, respectively, to lead the team. Those numbers rank eighth in ninth in the A-10.
• Redshirt sophomore Sarah Stratton's 112 blocks leads the Rams, which ranks fourth in the A-10.
• VCU was picked to finish in second-place by league coaches this season.
• In 2021, VCU went 18-12 overall and 13-3 in conference play.    
• Kevin Maureen Campbell is in her third season as the head coach of the Rams.

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