Pittsburgh, Pa. – The Duquesne University rowing team traveled to West Virginia to complete its 2025 fall campaign with a scrimmage against both WVU and Dayton.
Starting the morning off with intense fog on the non-visible Monongahela River, all rowers waited patiently for the all clear on land. An hour spent consoling Mother Nature, the sun and river appeared and the Dukes and their competition launched at 9:00 a.m. 
 
SCRIMMAGE
All boats completed a couple of four-minute race style pieces after a long 5,000 meter warmup. Once at the starting line, the rowers raced five boats across in three boat groupings. The first competition consisted of Duquesne's 1st and 2nd varsity eights, West Virginia's 1st and 2nd varsity eights as well as Dayton's 1st eight. Next up were Duquesne and West Virginia's 3rd and 4th varsity 8s as well as Dayton's 2nd Varsity 8. Lastly, a novice four from Duquesne lined up with a WVU novice four, a WVU varsity four and a Dayton varsity four. Each four-minute piece complete, the boats lined up again in these groupings of five across for the next pieces. Although a passing barge in the middle of racing cost the rowers a piece or two, all coxswains were diligent in moving their boats away from the barge and continuing to race. The Dukes held their own throughout the mid-morning and were able to compete one last time before winter training begins. 
 
QUOTABLE
"This fall has been focused a lot on becoming competitive teammates with each other during practices and not only focusing on what boat you are in, but also how to make whatever boat you are in the fastest possible," head coach Matt Carlsen said. "We have checked that box as these have definitely been some of the most competitive practices we have had since I've been here. As we now enter the winter months, we are going to shift that focus to how we react when we do things we have never done before. Getting comfortable being uncomfortable and figuring out ways to be successful. This will only enhance the spring season when we realize we can row exactly how we row in practice on race day."

LINEUPS
Race                  Varsity 8                  Varsity 8                   Varsity 8                            Varsity 8
Bow             Nora Grace Foglia     Nina DiFonzo          Madison Lambert             Keira Kusmaul
2                   Reilly Tibbitts            Julia Serdinak          Isabelle Pilato                    Anna Dering
3                   Brooke Brindise        Sarah Hartzell        Mateja van Gameren      Amelia Nicholas 
4                   Sabrina Alcaro         Cate Manclark             Ellie Knuth                    Olivia Martinez
5                   Catie Duffner           Mikayla Bartos           Lily Armstrong                 Emma Mills 
6                   Danielle Smith          Katherine Zema         Kayla Kral                  Sydney Goodwin 
7                   Nicole Woroszylo   Margaret Osterhaudt    Ella Kerrigan                 Morgan Kernan 
Stroke          Cherise Dicke           Ella Hinchey             Dakota Psensky          Madelyn Strause 
Coxswain     Paige Engel          Serena DeCosmo        Caitlin Langford                  Kat Muha
 
Race                      Novice 4 
Bow                  Carli Reisinger
2                         Violet Shaw 
3                     Rachel Behringer
Stroke              Jonah Althof                                         
Coxswain       Rosalie Nicholas                  
 
Switched into the novice boat: Erin Farr
 
UP NEXT
The Dukes head to Clemson, S.C., Feb. 27, 2026 for their annual spring training trip.

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