UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Duquesne University volleyball team dropped its season-opening match to Loyola Maryland by a final score of 3-0 Friday morning at the Penn State Invitational.

The Dukes begin the season 0-1 while Loyola Maryland starts the 2022 campaign 1-0. Duquesne continues play at the Penn State Invitational at 4:00 p.m. ET against West Virginia Friday.

Missing a handful of key players from the lineup, Duquesne's season did not begin the way it wish it had. The Dukes dropped three-straight sets to the Greyhounds despite showing fight from a young squad.

Sophomore Anna Shoemake and freshman Carsyn Henschen led the team with seven kills each while Shoemake led the team with 9.5 points in the loss.

Senior Anita Parrott had an impressive season debut, notching five kills and recording a team-high five blocks. Henschen and fellow freshman Ariel Helm also had five blocks each.

Senior Hailey Poling led the team with 23 assists and 15 digs.

As a team, Duquesne out-blocked Loyola Maryland 10-6 and matched the Greyhounds with two service aces in the match.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The first set started off quite well for the Dukes, and they held the lead for most of the first stanza. It wasn't until Loyola Maryland pulled ahead at 18-17 that they gave up the lead for good. Even then, Duquesne fought back to keep it close at 24-23 before the Greyhounds took the set.

The Dukes got off to a slow start in the second set and found themselves in a 20-9 hole before making a run of their own. They ripped off 11 points compared to four for Loyola Maryland to make it a four-point game at 24-20. Unfortunately, the Greyhounds were able to hold them off to take the set.

In the final set of the match, it was tight at 12-10 in Loyola Maryland's favor before they pulled ahead and finished off the match with three-straight sets. Still, the Dukes battled despite playing shorthanded with a young team. A four-point deficit was the closest Duquesne was able to get it to as it fell, 25-18, in the third and final set.  

GAME NOTES

• Six freshmen made their debut for the Dukes today – Helm, Henschen, Maggie Colenbrander, Hanna Wilson, Madison Grimm and Tia Bozzo.
• Shoemake's five blocks were one shy of her career high of six.
• Parrott led the team with a .300 hitting percentage. She led the team and ranked seventh in the conference in hitting percentage in 2021.
• Poling tallied assists on 23 of the Dukes' 26 kills, picking up right where she left off in 2021 after leading the conferences in helpers in 2021.

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