MATCHES 11,12
Central Michigan (7-2) vs. Duquesne (8-2)
Friday, September 20 | 6:00 p.m.
UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse | Pittsburgh, Pa.
Live Stats | Live Video (ESPN+)

Canisius (4-4) vs. Duquesne (8-2)
Saturday, September 21 | 3:00 p.m.
UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse | Pittsburgh, Pa.
Live Stats  

2024 Roster | 2024 Schedule | 2024 Statistics
 
Bump. Set. Spike.
- The Duquesne University volleyball team concludes its three match homestand this weekend, hosting the Duquesne/Robert Morris Invitational. The Dukes will battle Central Michigan on Friday, September 20 at 6:00 p.m. before facing Canisius on Saturday, September 21 at 3:00 p.m.

- On Tuesday night, the Dukes opened its homestand by defeating Mercyhurst in straight sets. A pair of Dukes ended the evening with double-digit kills, led by graduate student Elizabeth Drelling and sophomore Avery Hobson.

- Drelling registered her first double-double of the season, ending with 10 kills and a team-leading 10 digs while carding a hitting percentage of .500. Hobson recorded 10 kills and seven digs while posting a season-high .556 hitting percentage. Both Drelling and Hobson tallied a pair of service aces.

- Freshman Emersen Schrom ended with eight kills and two blocks while junior Ariel Helm collected seven successful swings and season-high nine blocks. Helm tallied five block assists while totaling four solo blocks. Sophomore Chloe Wilmot finished with 20 assists and six digs while graduate student Grace Kristofic ended with 18 assists and five digs.

- As a team, Duquesne posted its second-best hitting percentage of the season (.337) totaling 44 kills on 92 attacks, with just 13 errors. The Dukes also collected a season-high six solo blocks and tied its second highest with 11 for the match.

- With the win against the Lakers on Tuesday night, the Dukes improved to 4-0 inside UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse and for the first time since the 2016 campaign.

- Duquesne is led by head coach Steve Opperman, who is in his 27th season leading the program in 2024. Opperman is the all-time winningest coach in DU history as he has posted over 370 victories for the red and blue while collecting 160 conference wins for the Dukes.

- Last weekend, the volleyball team earned a 2-1 record at the Comfort Inn-Vitational, securing a 3-0 sweep over Evansville before capturing a 3-2, five-set thriller over Eastern Michigan on Saturday morning.

- Duquesne begins Atlantic 10 play when it hosts George Washington for a double header on Friday, Sept. 27 at 6:00 p.m. and Saturday, Sept. 28 at 2:00 p.m. inside UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.

Scouting the Chippewas – A member of the Mid-American Conference, Central Michigan comes to Pittsburgh with a 7-2 overall mark. It'll be just the fourth meeting between the Dukes and Chippewas on Friday night, with Central Michigan holding a 2-1 mark in the series. CMU is coming off of hosting the Chippewa Invitational where they went 1-2 on the weekend. They dropped a 3-2 decision to Eastern Kentucky before bouncing back with a 3-1 win over Southeast Missouri State. The Chippewas fell in its last match of the weekend, falling to Green Bay, 3-2. Krystina Kasson leads CMU with 99 kills on the year while averaging 2.91 per set. Grace Thomas ranks seventh in the MAC in hitting percentage (.325) while Abby Olin sits eighth with a .324 swing percentage. On the defense, Hannah Langton ranks third in the conference in total digs (179) and digs per set (4.71).

Scouting the Golden Griffins – It'll be the 11^th meeting when the Dukes and Golden Griffins square off on Saturday afternoon. Canisius comes to Pittsburgh with a 4-4 overall record after competing at the Ellicott Hotels Western New York Invitational last weekend. The Giffs dropped a pair of matches in Buffalo, N.Y., falling to Youngstown State 3-1 and Bucknell 3-2. A member of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC), Canisius features the top player in the conference in hitting percentage in Kara Zaucha. She's hitting at a .336 percent clip while her 96 total kills and 3.20 kills per set sit sixth. Ella Bourque ranks first in the MAAC in assists per contest (9.55) and total assists (277) while Jillian Hanna sits fourth in digs (132) and digs per set (4.40).

Block Party On Helm Street – Junior middle blocker Ariel Helm has been a force at the net for the Dukes this season. She currently leads the Atlantic 10 with 46.0 total blocks while her 1.28 rejections per set ranks second. Helm has posted four-plus blocks in six of the last seven matches, including a season-high nine in the sweep over Mercyhurst on Tuesday. She collected five block assists and four solo blocks while tallying seven kills on a .636 hitting percentage. The Indianapolis, Indiana native has registered a pair of six block performances, one in a 3-0 sweep over Saint Francis and the second in a 3-1 victory over Niagara. Helm is already halfway to her career best 92.0 total blocks in a season, which she posted her freshman year.

Celebrating 50 Years – This season marks the 50th anniversary of women's volleyball as it began in the fall of 1974. For the first 12 years, Duquesne played as a club team before elevating the program to the Division I level in 1986. The first coach to lead the then-Duchesses' was Duquesne alum Rob Cisney who coached the first three years of the Dukes being a Division I program. Leading up to this season, Duquesne has put together an all-time record of 697-696 (.500), a Division I record of 512-587 (.466), and an Atlantic 10 record of 206-585 (.400). The Dukes won its first-ever Division I contest at Robert Morris on September 10, 1986, with a 3-0 sweep. Duquesne won its first-ever conference contest against Rutgers, when they defeated the Scarlet Knights in straight sets.

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