Noah Fries | staff writer

The Duquesne volleyball team won both of their matches against Davidson at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse over the weekend, losing just two sets combined to take its win streak to six. The 2-0 weekend sweep improved the Dukes’ record to 17-10 overall and 9-7 in conference play.

The Dukes’ 17 total wins are the most since 2013, while the nine conference wins are tied for the most since its 2014 campaign.

With the sweep, the Dukes clinched a spot in the A10 Volleyball Championship for the first time since 2021.

The five seniors on the team — outside hitter Hanna Wilson, middle blocker Ariel Helm, right-side hitter Carsyn Henschen, defensive specialist Maggie Colenbrander and libero Madison Grimm — were celebrated on Saturday and had the honor of collecting their last win on the Bluff.

While the seniors were the focal point of the weekend, sophomore standout outside hitter Emersen Schrom did her best to steal the show. Tallying 45 kills and 19 digs over the weekend, Schrom became the first player in program history to win four Atlantic 10 Player of the Week awards in a single season.

In the first match of the weekend, Davidson came out firing on all cylinders after the Senior Day festivities. It felt like almost every swing the Wildcats had in the first set was finding the floor, as they took a set one victory 25-21 while hitting .452.

The Dukes made it a point to tighten up their defense in the second set — and they excelled at it. Duquesne started digging and blocking everything, holding Davidson to a .086 kill percentage in the second set while committing only one attacking error of its own, dominating the net en route to a 25-15 victory.

The third set was categorized by a series of runs from both teams, going back and forth for much of the set. The Dukes would jump out to an early lead, but the Wildcats would fight right back to take the lead. Duquesne was leading by as much as 6 late in the set, but Davidson would cut it to 1 before two Duquesne kills would clinch the set win 25-22.

The fourth set was more of the same, just with longer runs for both teams. Duquesne held an 11-3 advantage early in the set, but Davidson clawed their way back to be down by just 2 at the media timeout.

Another series of short runs by the Dukes, with Schrom paving the way, would result in a 25-21 set win and a match victory.

Schrom was dominant in the match, totaling 28 kills and 10 digs for her 12th double-double of the season.

Henschen added 18 kills and Helm tallied nine on their Senior Days.

Grimm emphasized how important it was to the seniors to be able to come away with a victory on their day.

“Honestly, I think a big thing with us seniors is that we were so happy to be celebrated because it is our last year here,” Grimm added, “but we just wanted to win for the team because of how close it comes down to us getting in the tournament. So mainly just for that, but obviously it feels good to win on our day.”

The second match of the weekend almost perfectly mirrored the first match, with Davidson taking the first set 25-19 while capitalizing on Duquesne attacking errors.

Throughout the rest of the match, however, the Dukes were in almost complete control. Big runs gave them an early lead in each of the remaining three sets, and dominant kill percentages (.368, .243 and .407) were the story as Duquesne took all three sets 25-19, 25-19 and 25-15 to extend its winning streak to six and clinch a spot in the playoffs.

Schrom (17) and freshman outside hitter Karli Jordan (13) led the Dukes in kills, with Henschen adding 11 and Helm adding nine in their last match at the Fieldhouse. Grimm led the team with 15 digs — moving into the top 10 in digs in program history with 1,299 — and junior setter Chloe Wilmot notched 50 assists to eclipse the 1,000-assist mark for the second consecutive season.

“The team has really started to click again,” Head Coach Steve Opperman said. “We’re once again firing on all cylinders. We have our usual suspects in putting balls away, but others are stepping up in key spots. It’s been a great team effort every single night, and I’m glad that we’re continuing in the right direction.”

Noah Fries can be reached at friesn@duq.edu