Youngstown, Ohio – The Duquesne volleyball team opened its 2026 campaign Friday at the YSU Invitational, earning a pair of victories in Youngstown, Ohio. The Dukes opened the day with a 3-0 sweep of Canisius before defeating host Youngstown State, 3-1, Friday night. With the two victories, Duquesne improves to 2-0 on the season.
MATCH 1 vs. CANISIUS
Duquesne used an impressive .418 hitting percentage and 42 kills on the match as it jumped out to an early 25-15 victory in the opening set. The Dukes held a 5-4 lead before stringing together a 7-1 run, highlighted by three consecutive service aces from freshman
Simone Searles. Canisius trimmed the deficit to 16-11, but Duquesne responded with a 9-4 run to close out the set and take a 1-0 lead. Searles sparked the decisive stretch with a kill before teaming up with classmate
Maddie Bush for a block. After a pair of Golden Griffin points, Searles and senior
Jordan Robertson added kills, while redshirt senior
Delaney McIntosh followed with a service ace. Robertson and junior
Emersen Schrom then closed out the set with kills to give the Dukes the 25-15 victory.
GET THE BROOMS OUT
In the middle of the second set, Canisius used a 4-1 run to trim the Dukes' lead to 13-12 before Duquesne responded with a 9-2 burst to take a commanding 22-14 advantage. Kills from Schrom and Searles sparked the run, followed by back-to-back blocks from Bush and Searles. A Golden Griffin attack error and another kill from Schrom kept the momentum firmly in Duquesne's favor. Canisius answered with consecutive points, but Schrom responded with three straight kills to cap the decisive stretch. Later in the set, Robertson sealed the 2-0 match lead with a kill as the Dukes secured a 25-18 victory. Duquesne was dominant in the third frame, hitting at a .520 clip without committing an attacking error. The Dukes quickly built an 18-5 advantage, fueled by three kills from Schrom and sophomore
Mirabella Iriarte, along with a pair of service aces from freshman
Londyn Stone. Duquesne closed out the sweep with an 8-3 run, earning a 25-12 victory in the final set.
INSIDE THE STAT SHEET
Duquesne was paced by
Emersen Schrom, who recorded her first kill-dig double-double of the season with a match-high 14 kills and 10 digs while hitting at a .393 clip. She also added two service aces and a block on Friday morning. In her first collegiate match,
Simone Searles tallied nine kills, five digs and a team-high four aces while adding three blocks.
Jordan Robertson and
Londyn Stone each chipped in six kills, with Robertson adding two blocks and Stone contributing three aces and five digs. Senior
Chloe Wilmot orchestrated the Duquesne offense with 35 assists while adding seven digs, while
Delaney McIntosh also finished with seven digs. As a team, the Dukes recorded 11 service aces and 6.5 total blocks while limiting Canisius to a .034 hitting percentage.
MATCH 2 vs. YSU
Duquesne took advantage of 26 Youngstown State miscues and a .162 hitting percentage to secure its second win of the day, defeating the Penguins, 3-1. The Dukes held an 11-10 lead midway through the fourth set before scoring six of the next seven points to take a 17-11 advantage. Freshmen
Maddie Bush and
Londyn Stone opened the run with a block, followed by successful swings from
Emersen Schrom and Bush. Following a YSU point, freshman
Simone Searles and Schrom each found the floor with kills before a Penguins miscue capped the run. After a YSU timeout, the Dukes closed out the match with a 6-3 burst, highlighted by three kills and a pair of service aces.
COMEBACK KIDS
It was a battle from the opening serve as Duquesne trailed 10-4 before rattling off a 12-4 run to take a 16-14 advantage. Four different Dukes recorded a kill during the stretch, led by Stone with three. The home team answered by knotting the score at 17-17, but a
Jordan Robertson kill and a block from senior
Chloe Wilmot and Bush forced a Penguins timeout. Out of the break, YSU evened the score at 23-23 before Schrom and Wilmot capped the comeback with back-to-back kills. As a team, Duquesne hit .333 in the opening set while recording six blocks and three service aces.
SETTING UP HISTORY
Entering Friday's matches, senior setter
Chloe Wilmot was just 76 assists shy of 3,000 for her career, and she did not disappoint. In the fourth set against Youngstown State, Wilmot set up Stone, who found the floor to give her teammate the milestone. The Virginia native became the sixth player in program history to reach 3,000 career assists and enters Saturday's match with 3,005 helpers for her career. Wilmot controlled the Duquesne offense, recording 46 assists for the 28th time in her career with 40 or more helpers. The senior also tallied four kills, four digs and four blocks to go with a service ace in the victory.
QUOTABLE
"I thought our team got better throughout the day," head coach Steve Opperman said. "We need to keep learning from the miscues we have on the court to keep getting better. We had a nice offensive day today and look to build on it."
INSIDE THE STAT SHEET
Duquesne featured three players with double-digit kills, led by
Londyn Stone and
Emersen Schrom, who each finished with 17 kills. Stone also collected eight digs, two assists and a block, while Schrom added seven digs and an ace in the victory.
Simone Searles rounded out the trio with 10 kills while hitting .375, adding seven digs and two blocks. Senior libero
Delaney McIntosh posted a career-high 22 digs to go with three assists, while
Jordan Robertson paced the Dukes with six blocks in the win.
UP NEXT
Duquesne concludes play at the YSU Invitational on Saturday, August 29, when it battles Mercyhurst at noon inside the Beeghly Center.
