Pittsburgh, Pa. – Behind a pair of sweeps, the Duquesne volleyball team opened play at the Chick-fil-A Robinson Classic on Thursday inside UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse. The Dukes began the day with a straight-set victory over Eastern Michigan before capping the night with a dominant 3-0 sweep of Elon. With the two victories, Duquesne improves to 5-0 on the season and has now registered four straight-set victories through its first five matches of 2026.
MATCH 1 vs. EASTERN MICHIGAN
It was a sluggish offensive start for both teams Friday morning, as each squad hit below .150, but Duquesne used a late rally to secure a 25-22 victory in the opening stanza. The Dukes opened the contest with a 7-2 spurt, fueled by three kills from senior
Jordan Robertson, before Eastern Michigan answered with a 7-3 run of its own to trim the deficit to 10-9. Duquesne carried a 15-13 advantage into the media timeout following a kill from freshman
Simone Searles, but the Eagles responded later in the set to even the score at 20-all. The Dukes found their stride when it mattered most, closing the stanza on a 5-2 burst to take a 1-0 lead in the match. Searles led the charge with three kills during the closing stretch before Robertson and junior
Emersen Schrom teamed up for a block to seal the set.
FLIPPING THE SCRIPT
Eastern Michigan came out of the gates hot in the second set, racing out to a 9-2 advantage behind five kills from Natalie Slusher, including four consecutive scores at one point. Duquesne quickly turned the tide, clawing its way back with a 6-1 run to trim the deficit to 10-8. Searles sparked the rally with a pair of kills and an ace, while Schrom added a service ace of her own. Out of the media timeout, the Eagles maintained a slim 15-14 lead before the Dukes rattled off eight of the next 10 points to take a 22-17 advantage and force an EMU timeout. Searles opened the run with back-to-back kills, and after the Eagles answered with two points, senior
Chloe Wilmot and freshman
Londyn Stone each found the floor with successful swings. Wilmot kept the momentum rolling with a solo block before Schrom capped the run with back-to-back aces. Eastern Michigan managed to cut into the deficit late, but a miscue by the Eagles followed by another successful swing from Searles secured a 25-20 come-from-behind victory for Duquesne. The Dukes hit an impressive .423 in the set, committing just two errors while recording three service aces.
FINISHING IN STYLE
Duquesne closed things out in dominant fashion, holding Eastern Michigan to a -.154 hitting percentage while hitting just under .300 in a 25-14 victory to complete the sweep. The Dukes jumped out to a 14-5 advantage behind six combined kills from Schrom and Searles before putting the match away with a 9-4 burst to close the set. Duquesne capitalized on three Eagles miscues during the run, while four different Dukes found the floor with successful swings. Schrom and Searles paced the charge throughout the final stanza, combining for 10 of Duquesne's 13 kills while accounting for both of the team's service aces to seal the straight-set victory.
INSIDE THE STAT SHEET
Duquesne featured a pair of Dukes with double-figure kills in
Simone Searles and
Emersen Schrom. Searles paced the attack with a season-high 15 kills while hitting an impressive .379. She also tallied three digs and a pair of service aces in the victory. Schrom recorded her second kills-digs double-double of the season, finishing with 11 kills and 10 digs while hitting .364. She also led the Dukes with three service aces.
Chloe Wilmot orchestrated the offense with 30 assists to go along with seven digs and two blocks, while
Londyn Stone contributed nine digs and five kills.
MATCH 2 vs. ELON
Behind an impressive .488 hitting percentage for the match, the Dukes jumped out to an early 1-0 lead, recording 14 kills against just one error while adding four blocks and hitting .448 in a 25-18 opening-set victory. Following a kill by senior
Jordan Robertson that knotted the score at 12-all, Duquesne used a 7-3 run to break open the frame and seize a 19-15 advantage. Freshmen
Londyn Stone and
Maddie Bush each found the floor during the surge, while Bush and Robertson teamed up for blocks and senior
Chloe Wilmot added a service ace. Elon would pull within 21-18 before junior
Emersen Schrom tallied back-to-back kills and freshman
Simone Searles found the floor successfully before closing out the set with a service ace.
REACHING ANOTHER LEVEL
Duquesne didn't skip a beat in the second stanza, delivering another dominant offensive showing with a blistering .611 hitting percentage behind 11 kills and no errors. The Dukes jumped out to an early 8-6 advantage, fueled by kills from Searles and Stone and service aces from Schrom and Searles, before stretching their lead to 14-8. Searles added a block and a kill during the run, while Stone found the floor with an ace before Schrom capped the spurt with a kill. The Phoenix would trim the deficit to four, but Duquesne answered with seven of the next eight points to push its advantage to 21-11. Stone later delivered a kill to give the Dukes set point before Bush and Searles teamed up for a block, securing a 25-13 victory and a 2-0 match lead.
QUOTABLE
"I thought our team did a nice job today," head coach
Steve Opperman said. "We played more physical in our second match and it's something to keep building on. In each match, we started a little slow. We maintained our composer and played very solid volleyball."
INSIDE THE STAT SHEET
Six Dukes hit above .400 for the match, led by junior
Emersen Schrom, who powered her way to a team-best 15 kills while hitting an impressive .481. Schrom saved her best for the third set, recording seven of her 15 kills to help lead Duquesne to a dominant 25-14 victory. She also added six digs and a match-best five service aces. Freshman
Londyn Stone narrowly missed a double-double, finishing with a season-best 11 digs and nine kills while hitting .474.
Simone Searles added eight kills, seven digs and four blocks, while senior
Chloe Wilmot orchestrated the Duquesne offense with 32 assists to go with five digs. Senior
Delaney McIntosh also made her mark on Thursday, recording a career-high six assists in the victory.
UP NEXT
Duquesne returns to UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse on Saturday, Sept. 5, when it welcomes local rival Robert Morris for a 3:00 p.m. matchup.
