UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Duquesne University volleyball team fell to the West Virginia Mountaineers, 3-0, Friday evening at the Penn State Invitational.

The Dukes are now 0-2 while WVU improves to 2-0. Duquesne continues play at the Penn State Invitational at 3:30 p.m. ET against UConn Saturday.

Despite some strong efforts by some of the newcomers, Duquesne was unable to overcome the challenge of missing a few of its returning starters.

Three of the top-four scorers for Duquesne were freshmen, and they held their own against a powerful West Virginia team.

Freshman Ariel Helm led the team with 7.5 points and six blocks. Fellow freshman Carsyn Henschen had five kills, which tied a team-high.

Anita Parrott came on late into the match and had a strong showing. She ended the game with four blocks and five kills.

Freshman Hanna Wilson had her first career game with double-digit digs with 10. That number led the team. Senior Hailey Poling led the team with 17 assists.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The first set did not go as planned for Duquesne. The Dukes got outscored 25-12 and were unable to get anything going in terms of a run. West Virginia maintained consistent effort and put itself up 1-0 quickly.

The second set began in a similar fashion and WVU's lead got as high as 11 while up 18-7. But Duquesne showed a lot of fight, especially from its young players, and were able to close the deficit down to three points at 22-19. Unfortunately, the Dukes' comeback came up just short in the second set and they dropped it, 25-21.

In set three, Duquesne showed the same determination, but West Virginia refused to give up the lead. The Mountaineers got out to another big lead at 8-2, but Duquesne once again battled back to narrow the gap to three at 15-12. The Dukes fought, but West Virginia kept up the pressure and held on to win.

GAME NOTES

• Wilson's 10 digs marks her first career game with 10 or more digs. She led the team in that category today.
• Parrott had a hitting percentage of .308 today, which was the best on the team and her second-straight game with a hitting percentage at .300 or higher.
• Henschen had six digs today, giving her a new career high in her freshman campaign.
• Six freshmen played for Duquesne once again, which means over half the players that saw time were freshmen.  

FOLLOW THE DUKES
For the latest news and updates for Duquesne volleyball, follow @DuqVB on Twitter and Instagram.