PITTSBURGH – The Duquesne University volleyball team hosts Canisius, William & Mary and Robert Morris at the Duquesne/Robert Morris Invitational Friday and Saturday for the first home matches of the season for the Dukes.

Duquesne opens the invitational against Canisius Friday at 11 a.m. ET and follows that with a match against William & Mary at 6:00 p.m. later that day. The Dukes will take on Robert Morris Saturday at 3:00 p.m. to wrap up the invitational.

All three games will be available to stream on ESPN+ and live stats will be available.

SERIES BREAKDOWN VS. CANISIUS

• All-Time Series: Duquesne leads, 6-2
• First Meeting: Sept. 7, 1990 at Akron (neutral) – DUQ won 3-2
• Last Meeting: Sept. 10, 2021 at Canisius – DUQ won 3-0 I Recap | Box Score
• Streak: Duquesne, W2

SERIES BREAKDOWN VS. WILLIAM & MARY

• All-Time Series: W&M leads, 0-1
• First Meeting: Sept. 13, 2013 at Virginia Tech (Neutral) – W&M won 3-2
• Last Meeting: Same I Recap | Box Score
• Streak: W&M, W1

SERIES BREAKDOWN VS. ROBERT MORRIS

• All-Time Series: Duquesne leads, 34-10
• First Meeting: Sept. 10, 1986 at RMU – Duquesne won 3-0
• Last Meeting: Sept. 4, 2021 at RMU – RMU won 3-2 I Recap | Box Score
• Streak: RMU, W2

THE DUKES

• Duquesne has started the year 0-3, but those three losses came against some good competition in Loyola Maryland, West Virginia and UConn at the Penn State Invitational. It was also missing a few key returning players from action.
• Despite the winless start, there were some bright spots and positives to take away from three matches played so far. 
• Senior Anita Parrott was named to the Penn State Invitational All-Tournament Team. She is tied for second on the team with 15 kills and recorded 1.1 blocks per set in the three matches.
• Freshman Carsyn Henschen leads the team with 23 kills and 2.56 kills per set. She recorded a match-high 11 kills against UConn.
• Freshman Ariel Helm leads the team in blocks with 12. She is also tied for second on the team with 15 kills.
• 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).
• 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 462-469 and a mark of 343-353 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 CANISIUS (ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS)

• The Golden Griffins have started the year 2-1 after wins against Purdue Fort Wayne and Western Illinois at the Purdue Fort Wayne Invitational.
• Their only loss came against Lindenwood.
• Freshman Ella Bourke was named the Molten Volleyball MAAC Rookie of the Week after posting 114 assists last weekend.
• Ella Loussia leads the team with 40 kills.
• Canisius was picked to finish fifth in the MAAC in 2022.
• Libero Bree Long was named the Preseason All-MAAC Team after being named to the All-MAAC Championship Team last season.
• Tom Hanna is in his first season as the head coach of the team.

SCOUTING WILLIAM & MARY (ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS)

• The Tribe has started this season winless after going 0-3 in Tampa, Fla. last week.
• They lost to USF and South Alabama in straight-sets then fell to Ball State by a score of 3-1.
• Kaitlyn Ferguson leads the Tribe with 28 kills.
• Anna Porter has 40 digs to lead the team.
• W&M went 5-16 in 2021 and are looking to bounce back this season.
• The roster is made up of nine returners and nine newcomers.
• Tim Doyle is in his fifth season as head coach of the Tribe.

SCOUTING ROBERT MORRIS (ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS)

• Robert Morris is sitting at 1-2 after losses to Kent State and James Madison at the James Madison Invitational this past week.
• Its lone win came against Albany in a 3-1 match.
• Annie Monaco (25) and Abby Ryan (24) are the two team-leaders in kills so far.
• Ashleigh Wallin and Kaitlyn Brown have split time at setter.
• The Colonials were 9-21 in 2021 with a 2-16 record in conference play.
• RMU returns 11 letter winners from 2021.
• Danny Doherty is in his first full season leading the Colonials after being named head coach Dec. 31, 2021. He served as interim head coach for the final four matches of the 2021 campaign.

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