Saint Louis, Mo. – The Duquesne University volleyball team traveled to Saint Louis for its first road conference match of the season, dropping a five-set thriller, 3-2 inside Chaifetz Pavilion on Friday night. With the loss the Dukes dipped to 10-5 overall and 1-2 in Atlantic 10 action.
POINT OF EMPHASIS
In the opening stanza, Duquesne took advantage of nine attacking errors while tallying 13 kills, to grab a 25-18 set win. The two squads traded the opening 14 points of the set before the Dukes strung together a 6-1 stint to hold a 13-8 advantage. Three different players registered a kill for Duquesne while it recorded a pair of blocks during the run. After Saint Louis collected a point, the Dukes scored six straight points to take a 19-9 advantage. Junior
Ariel Helm sparked the stint with a kill followed by a block from Helm and classmate
Carsyn Henschen. After a Billikens attacking error, graduate student
Elizabeth Drelling tallied a pair of kills while Helm registered a point. Saint Louis would respond with three consecutive points before Drelling and Henschen collected back-to-back successful swings as the Dukes held a 22-12 lead. The Billikens would trim the deficit (22-17) with five straight points before consecutive points for Duquesne and a kill from freshman
Emersen Schrom sealed the match.
BOUNCE BACK
After dropping sets two and three, the Dukes responded with 14 kills and .355 swing percentage. Duquesne jumped out to an 11-5 advantage, thanks to four kills from Schrom and a pair of blocks. Later in the set, the two squads traded the next eight points before the Billikens netted an 8-3 stint to cut the lead, 20-19. The Dukes would rally, bolstering a 5-1 burst to even the match with a 25-20 victory. Sophomore
Avery Hobson collected a service ace while classmate
Jordan Robertson found the floor successfully. After a point from Saint Louis, Drelling registered a kill before sealing the set for the Dukes with a solo block.
INSIDE THE STAT SHEET
A pair of Dukes finished with double figures on Friday night, led by
Emersen Schrom and
Elizabeth Drelling. Schrom ended with a team leading 14 kills, three digs, and three blocks while Drelling tallied 11 kills, nine digs, and five total blocks.
Carsyn Henschen ended the night with nine successful swings and five total rejections while sophomore
Chloe Wilmot controlled the offence with 24 assists and nine digs. Graduate student
Grace Kristofic posted 16 assists and nine digs on Friday.
UP NEXT
Duquesne concludes its series with Saint Louis, Saturday, Oct. 5, with the opening serve scheduled for 2:00 p.m.
