Pittsburgh, Pa. – The Duquesne volleyball team opened play at the Natale Sporting Goods Invitational on Friday night with a sweep of Maryland Eastern Shore inside UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse. With the win, the Dukes improved to 8-2 (.800) for the third straight season while maintaining a perfect 4-0 record at home.
POINT OF EMPHASIS
It was a slow start for Duquesne in the opening set, as the Hawks jumped out to an early 4-1 lead. The Dukes responded with four consecutive points, including kills from junior
Emersen Schrom and freshman
Maddie Bush, before a Schrom ace and a block Bush and classmate
Londyn Stone gave Duquesne a 5-4 advantage. Stone later found the floor to extend the lead to 15-11 before a 7-5 spurt pushed the advantage to 22-16. Freshman
Simone Searles recorded three kills during the run, while Robertson and Schrom each added a successful swing. Robertson and Searles also teamed up for the Dukes' third block of the set. Maryland Eastern Shore answered with three straight points, but a Hawks miscue followed by back-to-back kills from Searles and Schrom secured a 25-19 Duquesne victory in the opening stanza. Schrom and Searles each tallied five kills in the set, combining for 10 of Duquesne's 17 kills.
AN OFFENSIVE SURGE
Behind 16 kills and a .517 hitting percentage, the Dukes withstood a late run from the Hawks to take a 2-0 lead in the match. The two squads traded the opening 16 points before Duquesne used a 7-3 burst to build a 15-11 advantage heading into the media timeout. Searles paced the way with a pair of kills during the run, while the Hawks committed four errors. UMES responded with a 9-4 run of its own, recording six kills during the spurt to take a 20-19 lead and force a Duquesne timeout. Out of the break, the Dukes found their footing, rattling off five consecutive points behind a pair of kills from Searles and two aces from Schrom. Searles later capped the set with a kill, securing a 25-21 victory and giving Duquesne a 2-0 match advantage.
STAT SNAPSHOT
Duquesne didn't slow down in the third stanza, hitting an impressive .536 while recording 16 kills to cruise to a 25-15 victory and complete the sweep. Four different Dukes recorded at least three kills in the set, while the team committed just one attacking error throughout the frame. Searles and Schrom once again led the offensive charge, with Searles recording her second kills-digs double-double of the season behind a team-high 16 kills and 10 digs. She swung at an impressive .640 clip for the match. Schrom narrowly missed a double-double, finishing with 11 kills and nine digs while adding a team-best four aces in the victory. The performance marked the sixth time this season both Searles and Schrom have recorded double-figure kills, with Duquesne posting a 5-1 record in those matches.
QUOTABLE
"I thought our team did a solid job of staying composed through the match," head coach
Steve Opperman said. "UMES played a nice match tonight. We continued to get better as the match went on and finished strong. A nice TEAM win."
BY THE NUMBERS
Freshman
Londyn Stone and senior
Jordan Robertson each added eight kills, with Stone also contributing five digs and an ace. Senior
Chloe Wilmot orchestrated the offense with 42 assists and two blocks, while sophomore
Alexa Flowers added 13 assists. As a team, the Dukes hit .412 for the match, marking their third-highest hitting percentage of the season. Duquesne also recorded 49 kills, its most in a three-set match this season.
UP NEXT
Duquesne returns to action when it wraps up non-conference play, when it welcomes Siena to UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse on Saturday, Sept. 19, beginning at 2:00 p.m.
