Pittsburgh, Pa. – Despite falling behind two sets to none, the Duquesne volleyball team rallied to complete a reverse sweep, defeating Dayton, 3-2, on Tuesday night inside UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse. With the victory, the Dukes improved to 16-7 (.696) overall and 7-5 (.583) in league play, earning their first win over the Flyers since 2013. Duquesne also improved to 10-2 at home, tying its highest home-win total on the Bluff since 2016.
POINT OF EMPHASIS
After battling back to even the match at two sets apiece, Duquesne and Dayton traded momentum in a decisive fifth set that featured seven ties and five lead changes. The Flyers held a narrow 6-5 advantage before the Dukes used a 4-1 run to take a 9-7 lead. Seniors
Chloe Wilmot and
Jordan Robertson sparked the surge with a block, followed by consecutive kills from freshman
Londyn Stone. After a Dayton timeout, Sidney Sprada recorded a point before junior
Emersen Schrom found the floor with a kill to cap the run. The Flyers responded with consecutive kills from Abigail Cresse and Kamryn Hunt to knot the score at 9-9, but Duquesne answered emphatically, scoring six straight points to secure a 15-9 fifth-set victory and complete the reverse sweep. Freshman
Maddie Bush and Schrom opened the decisive run with back-to-back kills, and Schrom added another kill following a Dayton timeout. Bush and classmate
Simone Searles then teamed up for a block before Searles delivered the match point. A Dayton attack error sealed the victory for the Dukes, who hit an impressive .370 in the final set while recording 12 kills.
BOUNCE BACK
In a back-and-forth third set, the two squads were tied at 15-15 before Dayton built a 20-17 advantage. The Dukes continued to chip away, using a 4-1 run to even the score at 21-21. Searles sparked the rally with a kill before teaming up with Bush for a block, and Bush followed with a kill to force a Flyers timeout. Sprada added a kill out of the break, and Searles answered with a point of her own. After the teams traded the next four points, Hunt put Dayton at match point, but Stone responded with a kill before Robertson delivered an ace to swing the momentum and give Duquesne set point. The Flyers fought back to even the score at 26-26, but a Dayton attacking error followed by a block from Searles and Bush sealed a 28-26 victory for the Dukes.
REFUSING TO FOLD
The Dukes delivered a dominant performance in the fourth set, racing out to an early 11-3 lead. Searles and Stone each recorded a pair of kills, Robertson added two blocks, and Schrom and Wilmot each tallied a service ace. Duquesne carried a commanding 15-7 advantage into the media timeout before extending its lead with a 6-3 run to go up 21-10. Schrom contributed three kills during the stretch, while Bush and Searles teamed up for one block and Bush and Stone combined for another. Dayton trimmed the deficit to 22-14 with a 4-1 run, but the Dukes closed out the set by claiming three of the final five points to secure a 25-16 victory and even the match at two sets apiece. Searles added a point during the closing stretch, while Duquesne capitalized on a pair of Flyers errors to force a decisive fifth set.
QUOTABLE
"What a great battle tonight," head coach
Steve Opperman said. "Our kids just never lost sight of the finish line. We battled throughout the match and felt we switched gears after we won set three. This group is definitely a resilient one! We as a coaching staff are very proud of this squad!"
NUMBERS THAT SHIFTED THE SCRIPT
Duquesne delivered a packed stat sheet, with several Dukes posting season or career highs in the comeback victory.
Simone Searles led the way with her 10th double-double of the season, recording a season-high 22 kills and 16 digs while hitting an impressive .388 on 49 attacks. She also added a season-best four blocks.
Londyn Stone recorded her seventh double-double of the year, matching her season high with 17 kills while adding 13 digs.
Emersen Schrom notched her eighth double-double of the season, pairing 14 kills with a career-high 23 digs and a service ace.
Maddie Bush anchored the net for the Dukes, finishing with a season-high 6.5 blocks, including 11 block assists, one shy of tying the program record for block assists in a five-set match. She also contributed five kills and a solo block.
Delaney McIntosh rounded out the group with her first career double-double, tallying 21 kills and a career-best 11 assists, along with a service ace.
BY THE NUMBERS
Chloe Wilmot orchestrated the offense with her seventh double-double of the season, dishing out 53 assists while adding 17 kills, two service aces and 1.5 blocks. She now has 928 assists on the year, putting her just 72 shy of reaching the 1,000-assist mark for the season.
Jordan Robertson also made her presence felt at the net, recording eight kills and 3.5 blocks, including three block assists and two solo blocks. Robertson is now tied for third in program history with 308 career block assists, while her 65 career solo blocks rank tied for ninth all-time. As a team, Duquesne dominated at the net, totaling 17.0 blocks, just two shy of tying the program record for blocks in a five-set match. The Dukes also recorded 28 block assists, falling just four short of the program's five-set match record.
UP NEXT
Duquesne returns to the road for a two-match series against Davidson on Saturday, Oct. 31, and Sunday, Nov. 1, taking on the Wildcats in its next Atlantic 10 matchup.
