Pittsburgh, Pa. – Wrapping up a six-match homestand, the Duquesne volleyball team earned its sixth consecutive victory, defeating Davidson 3-1 on Sunday afternoon at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse. With the win, the Dukes clinched a spot in the Atlantic 10 Tournament for the first time since 2021. Duquesne also improved to 17-10 (.630) overall and 9-7 (.562) in league play. The 17 wins are the most since 2013 campaign, while the nine conference victories tie the highest total since 2014.
POINT OF EMPHASIS
Davidson jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the match after securing a 25-19 opening set victory. Duquesne responded in dominant fashion in the second frame, holding an early 11-6 advantage. Six different Dukes registered a kill while senior
Carsyn Henschen and freshman
Karli Jordan each tallied a pair of successful swings. The Wildcats would string together a 5-2 run to cut the deficit to two before sophomore
Emersen Schrom paced a 5-3 stint to give Duquesne an 18-14 lead. Later in the set, Davidson committed consecutive errors and a service ace from senior
Hanna Wilson stretched the Dukes lead to 23-18. After a point from Davidson, Schrom evened the match at 1-1 with consecutive successful swings, 25-19. Duquesne hit an impressive .368 in the set with 16 kills.
THIRD SET DOMINANCE
The Dukes have been statically great when capturing the third set, improving to 13-1 on the year. Leading 8-7 early in the frame, Duquesne rattled off six consecutive points to stretch its advantage to 14-7. A pair of Jordan kills and an attacking error by the Wildcats started the run and forced a Davidson timeout. Out of the break, junior
Jordan Robertson found the floor successfully, followed by a kill from Jordan and a block by Henschen and Jordan to cap the stint. Later in the frame, Davidson trimmed the lead to 18-14 before mounting four of the next six points to trail 20-18. Duquesne regained momentum, ending the set on a 5-1 run to take a 2-1 lead in the match. Jordan sparked the run with a kill followed by consecutive service aces from junior
Chloe Wilmot. After a Wildcats timeout and a kill from Elena Garcia-Guerrios, Henschen found the floor successfully before an attacking error sealed the set for the Dukes, 25-19.
SIX FOR SIX
Duquesne closed the match in dominant fashion, producing a .407 hitting percentage while holding Davidson to just 10 kills in the fourth set. Holding a 13-5 advantage early in the frame, the Dukes used six kills, a pair of aces, and a block to gain early control. Schrom paced the way with three kills, an ace, and a block with Helm while senior Maggie Coleanbrander registered a service ace during the stint. Duquesne's lead swelled to 19-8, thanks to a 6-3 run that featured an ace from Wilson and kills from Robertson, Henschen, and Schrom. The Wildcats showed life with a 7-4 run that cut the deficit to 23-15 before Schrom and Henschen sealed the Dukes sixth straight victory.
QUOTABLE
"Very pleased with our team's performance today," head coach
Steve Opperman said. "We started a little slow in set one and then didn't look back from there. It was great to clinch our bid at home and now work on seeding next weekend."
INSIDE THE STAT SHEET
Duquesne featured a trio of players finishing with double figure kills, led by
Emersen Schrom. She tallied 17 kills, nine digs, two aces, and two blocks while posting her 23
rd match this season with double digit kills.
Karli Jordan recorded 13 kills, four digs, and a block while
Carsyn Henschen rounded out the trio with 11 successful swings, three blocks, and a pair of digs.
Ariel Helm completed the day with nine kills, a team-best six blocks, and posted a .500 swing percentage. The senior middle blocker now sits just one block shy of tying the program record for total blocks in a career.
NOTES
Controlling the offense was
Chloe Wilmot, who for the second time in her career surpassed 1,000 assists for a single season. She finished with her 14
th double-double of the year, totaling 50 assists and 14 digs while collecting a pair of aces. Wilmot currently ranks seventh in program history with 2,720 career assists while sitting one ace shy of cracking the top 10. Seniors
Madison Grimm and Maggie Colenabrander each carded double figure digs as Grimm paced the team with 15 while Colenbrander carded 10. Grim also moved into the top 10 in program history with 1,299 career digs.
UP NEXT
Duquesne closes out the regular season on Friday, Nov. 14, and Saturday, Nov. 15, with a road trip to George Washington for its season finale.
