PITTSBURGH - The Duquesne University volleyball team begins its final road trip of the regular season on Tuesday with a visit to No. 18 Dayton.

THE BASICS 
October 24, 2023 | 5:00 PM  | Freriks Center (Dayton, OH) 

Duquesne Dukes (10-9, 5-6 A-10) 

• Streak: L1 | Roster | Stats | Schedule 

Dayton Flyers (22-2, 11-0 A-10) 

• Streak: W17 | Roster | Stats | Schedule 

GAMEDAY COVERAGE
Watch Live on ESPN+  |  Follow Live Stats  |  Gameday Central


THE DUKES 

• The Dukes make the trip to Dayton after splitting a home series with Rhode Island. Duquesne took the first match in four before being swept in the second.  

• Freshman Avery Hobson leads the Dukes with 218 kills. She is one of three Dukes with over 210, the other two being sophomore Carsyn Henschen (215) and graduate student Morgan Gish (212). 

• The three aforementioned Dukes are each in the top 10 in the A-10 in kills per set. Henschen is fourth, Hobson is fifth, and Gish is eighth.  

• Freshman Chloe Wilmot leads Duquesne with 768 assists. She ranks first in the A-10 in assists per set, and second in total assists. Wilmot is 19th in the nation in assists per set. 

• Sophomore Madison Grimm leads Duquesne with 272 digs, which is good for eighth in the A-10 in total digs. Wilmot and Gish are three and four digs away from 200, respectively. 

THE FLYERS 

• The Dayton Flyers are the No. 18 team in the country entering the match.

• Riding a 17-match win streak, Dayton's last loss occurred on Sept. 6 against then No. 2 Louisville in a five-set, non-conference match.  

• Redshirt Junior Lexie Almodovar leads Dayton with 361 kills. She ranks first in the A-10 in total kills and kills per set. She is ninth in the nation in total kills and 17th in kills per set. Almodovar tallied 18 kills against Duquesne in Pittsburgh. 

• Dayton has four other players in triple digits for kills in redshirt sophomore Taylor Russel (241), redshirt junior Alayna Yates (162), redshirt senior Amelia Moore (159) and sophomore Liana Sarkissian (102). Russell is ninth in the A-10 in kills per set. 

• Sophomore Karissa Kaminski leads the Flyers with 382 digs. She ranks fourth in the A-10 in total digs and fifth in digs per set. 

• Junior Alyssa Miller leads Dayton with 873 assists, good for second best in the A-10 in assists per set. Miller leads the A-10 in total assists and ranks 11th nationally. 

• Dayton was picked to finish second in the A-10 preseason poll. 

THE SERIES 

• Duquesne is 4-54 all-time against Dayton in the series that dates back to 1990.  

• The Dukes suffered a 3-0 defeat earlier this season at home on October 3 ... DU led late in the first (20-18) and battled to within two (20-18) in the third sets but nationally ranked Dayton perservered.

• Duquesne last beat the Flyers on November 23, 2013 at George Washington and enters on an 18-match losing streak to Dayton.

VS. RANKED OPPONENTS

• The Dukes are 0-8 all-time against ranked opponents under Coach Opperman.

WEEKLY HONORS FOR THE DUKES 

• Chloe Wilmot has collected a league-leading three A-10 Rookie of the Week honors.

• Avery Hobson has also been named A-10 Rookie of the Week twice, most recently after posting double-digit kills in each of the thrilling, five-set victories over conference foe Saint Louis along with a match-high 17 kills and early career-best 16 digs in the Friday night victory.

• A Duquesne player has taken the honor four out of the eight times this year ... It is the first time since 2012 that a Duke has earned multiple Rookie of the Week honors, when Mary Henry garnered five ... The last time the Dukes had two players earn multiple player of the week awards was 2008, when Tricia Mullen and Liz Homan won two and three times, respectively.  

• Morgan Gish also earned Player of the Week on September 5. 

STANDOUT PERFORMERS 

• Chloe Wilmot leads the team with eight double-doubles ... Six of the eight have been in A-10 action ... She has had 20+ assists in every match so far this season with 10 above 40 and five above 50. 

• Avery Hobson has seven double-doubles on the year, most recently a career-high 16 digs with 17 kills in the five-set win over Saint Louis ... Hobson has posted double-digit kills 10 times and 10+ digs on 10 occasions.  

• Morgan Gish notched her seventh double-double of the year on Friday ... Five of the seven have come in conference play ... The Kansas City, Mo. native has a team-high 12 matches with double-digit kills along with 10 matches with 10+ digs.  

• Camille Spencer recorded a pair of double-doubles in the doubleheader against Canisius on September 1, including a career-high 21 kills in the night cap.  

• Carsyn Henschen charted a double-double on opening weekend with 22 kills and 10 digs against Binghamton ... The New Knoxville, Ohio native has had 11 matches with double-digit kills, including eight of the 11 league matches. 

STRONG START 

• Duquesne's 5-1 record was the school's best start since 2012.  

• Last year the Dukes didn't win their fifth game until October 22, while this year they reached five wins in their sixth game on September 2. 

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAMS 

• The Dukes garnered all-tournament team recognition at all three of their non-conference tournaments early in the season. 

• Jordan Robertson – Virginia Tech Classic  

• Morgan Gish (MVP), Chloe Wilmot, Avery Hobson – RMU Invite  

• Carsyn Henschen, Madison Grimm – Binghamton Invitational 

FRESHMAN STARTERS  

• Coach Opperman brought in four talented freshmen this season, three of which started on opening weekend: Jordan Robertson, Avery Hobson, and Chloe Wilmot. 

• Successful players at the highest club and high school levels, the trio has started every match this season, three of four Dukes to do so. 

PRESEASON POLL 

• Duquesne was picked to finish eighth out of 10 in the A-10 Preseason Poll after an 8-22 (5-13 A-10) record in 2022. 

• Defending A-10 champion Loyola Chicago was tabbed the favorite with 97 points and seven first place votes. Dayton (2) and Davidson (1) also received first-place votes, taking second and third in the poll. 

OUR COACH 

• The Dukes are led by 26th year head coach Steve Opperman. 

• With an all-time record of 361-381 at Duquesne, Opperman has the most wins of any coach in program history. 

• Four-time Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year (co-2001, co-2004, co-2010 and 2013) 

• Opperman, whose teams have appeared in nine of the past 13 Atlantic 10 postseason tournaments, guided the Dukes to the school's first A-10 regular season and tournament championship in 2013. The 2013 Dukes went on to make the first NCAA Championship appearance in school history. 

• Opperman entered the season with 470 career wins (Wright State & Duquesne). 

ACADEMIC SUCCESS 

• Duquesne earned its fifth consecutive and 13th overall AVCA Team Academic Award for its classroom success last year. 

• DU's 13 AVCA Academic Awards most in A-10 since 1992-93 

UP NEXT 

• Duquesne continues its final road trip of the regular season with a weekend doubleheader against Loyola Chicago. Friday's first serve will be at 6 PM and Saturday's at 2 PM. Both games will be streamed live on ESPN+.  

FOLLOW THE DUKES 

For the latest news and updates for Duquesne volleyball, follow @DuqVB on Twitter (X) and Instagram.