PITTSBURGH – The Duquesne University volleyball team opens its season this weekend at the Penn State Invitational with two matches Friday and one match Saturday.

The Dukes will play Loyola Maryland Friday at 10:00 a.m. ET then West Virginia the same day at 4:00 p.m. They will pick up play Saturday at 3:30 p.m. against UConn for their last matchup of the invitational.

Each game will be streamed on B1G+ ($) and live stats will be available.

SERIES BREAKDOWN VS. LOYOLA MARYLAND

• All-Time Series: Duquesne leads, 7-2
• First Meeting: Sept. 16, 1988 at Loyola Maryland – DUQ won 3-0
• Last Meeting: Sept. 1, 2012 at Duquesne – DUQ won 3-1 I Recap | Box Score
• Streak: Duquesne, W1

SERIES BREAKDOWN VS. WEST VIRGINIA

• All-Time Series: WVU leads, 16-15
• First Meeting: Oct. 18, 1986 at Duquesne – WVU won 3-2
• Last Meeting: Sept. 20, 2019 at WVU – WVU won 3-0 I Recap | Box Score
• Streak: WVU, W1

SERIES BREAKDOWN VS. UCONN

• All-Time Series: UConn leads, 2-1
• First Meeting: Oct. 30, 1992 at Duquesne – UConn won 3-2
• Last Meeting: Aug. 31, 2013 at Fort Wayne, Ind. – UConn won 3-0 I Recap | Box Score
• Streak: UConn, W1

THE DUKES

• 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.
• Senior Morgan Kelly returns after earning a spot on the Atlantic 10 All-Conference Second Team in 2021 after putting up 3.48 kills per set which was the second-best in the conference. Her 400.5 points were the sixth-most in the A-10.
• Sophomore Anna Shoemake was named to the A-10 All-Rookie Team last season after ranking fourth on the team with 254 points and third with 206 kills. She looks to improve on her impressive freshman season.
• Also returning are seniors Hailey Poling and Anita Parrott. Poling led the conference with 1,114 assists and 9.86 assists per set last year while Parrott blocked the fifth-most shots in the conference in 2021 (108).
• The Dukes have won five of their last six matches against both Loyola Maryland and West Virginia.
• 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 462-466 and a mark of 343-350 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 343 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 LOYOLA MARYLAND (ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS)

• Loyola Maryland was picked to finish fifth in the Patriot League in 2022.
• Katie Forsythe was named the Preseason Libero of the Year in the Patriot League and was also named to the Preseason All-League Team.
• Forsythe is the NCAA Division-I active career leader in digs per set with 5.93, a mark that ranks fourth all-time in NCAA history.
• Lauren Link finished second on the team with 3.24 kills per set in 2021, a mark good for fifth-best in the Patriot League.
• The Greyhounds led the Patriot League in both hitting percentage and opponent hitting percentage last season.

SCOUTING WEST VIRGINIA (ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS)

• WVU went 8-8 in the Big 12 last season, finishing in third, while having an overall record of 19-10.
• The Mountaineers fell in the NCAA Tournament to Illinois to end their season.
• West Virginia was picked to finish eighth in the Big 12 this season.
• Senior Adrian Ell was a unanimous selection to the Big 12 Preseason All-Conference Team. She was named to the All-Big 12 First Team in 2021.
• The Mountaineers have a young team this season with seven freshman on the roster.
• Reed Sunuhara begins his eighth season as WVU's head coach in 2022-23. He has a 90-112 overall record in that span.

SCOUTING UCONN (ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS)

• UConn made it all the way to the NIVC Final Four last season before falling to Valparaiso.
• The Huskies went 24-11 (13-5 BIG EAST) during the regular season but fell to Marquette in the Big East Tournament semifinals.
• This season, UConn was picked to finish fourth in the conference.
• Seniors Caylee Parker and Kennadie Jake-Turner were selected to the preseason All-Conference team.
• Parker was a unanimous selection after earning her second-straight All-BIG EAST Team.
• Jake-Turner returns after leading the conference in hitting percentage last season. She also led the Huskies in blocks per set last season.
• Ellen Herman-Kimball enters her fourth season leading the Huskies looking to build on one of the best seasons in program history in 2021.

FOLLOW THE DUKES
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