Noah Fries | staff writer

The Duquesne volleyball team won its first match of the Duquesne/Robert Morris Invitational against Buffalo before falling in the second to a tough Saint Francis squad at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse over the weekend.

The weekend split takes the Dukes’ record to 8-3 as they wrapped up their nonconference schedule.

Junior middle blocker Jordan Robertson was named to the all-tournament team after hitting .548 across the two matches, averaging 2.71 kills and 1.71 blocks per set.

Sophomore outside hitter Emerson Schrom collected 28 kills, five blocks and two aces over the weekend to add to her NCAA Division I-leading number of total points.

“It’s so much easier to play when the whole team behind you wants it as much as you want it,” Henschen said. “Everyone supports each other so much.”

In the first match of the weekend, Buffalo was dominant early. Three consecutive stuff blocks from the Bulls forced an early Duquesne timeout in set one. The Bulls were ahead for what felt like the entire set, seemingly always having an answer for the Dukes.

The Dukes displayed resilience as they continued to fight for every single point, with two kills from Robertson — with an ace from junior setter Chloe Wilmot in between — giving the Dukes the lead for the first time since they led earlier. The Dukes continued the trek to a set win, despite being dominated through the majority of the match.

An early service run by Robertson in the second set helped the Dukes hold the lead throughout the first half of the second set, with the intricacies of Schrom and Wilmot’s respective games setting the Dukes apart.

The momentum the Dukes gained from the first two sets was the difference in the match. A dominant showing on all fronts gave Duquesne its eighth match win of the season.

Wilmot finished with her tenth straight match of 30+ assists, while Henschen led the team with 11 kills on only 18 swings.

The Dukes have started their 2025 season with one of the best records in program history. Senior libero Madison Grimm credits the team’s camaraderie as the reason why they’ve been so successful.

“As a team, we’ve adopted this saying of ‘mudita’, and it means to find joy in someone else’s success,” Grimm said. “I have adapted that entirely, and I get to be put in a position where I want to pass well so Chloe can get a good set and Emmy can get a kill, or whoever else. I take a lot of pride in that.”

In the second match of the Duquesne/Robert Morris Invitational, the Dukes took on the Red Flash of Saint Francis. The first set was categorized by groups of miniature runs, with the largest lead for either team being 4 points. The Red Flash took advantage of a few late mistakes by the Dukes and took the set, 25-23.

Duquesne came back in the second set with a big 25-22 win to restore momentum, but Saint Francis took that momentum right back with a 25-21 set win of its own.

With the Red Flash needing one more to seal the match, the Dukes did their best to fight back, pushing the fourth set into extra points with a big run. It wouldn’t be enough as the Dukes lost the last set 27-25 and lost the match.

Schrom had a team-high 18 kills and three blocks, while Wilmot added her sixth double-double of the year with 44 assists and 13 digs.

Despite the loss, Head Coach Steve Opperman had a lot of praise for his team, but acknowledged that a lot of work had yet to be done.

“I think we need to cut down on the controllables,” Opperman said. “The controllable errors, the controllable balls that aren’t going to target. But the kids are doing really, really nice things, and they’re excited to get to conference.”

Noah Fries can be reached at friesn@duq.edu