Noah Fries | staff writer

The Duquesne volleyball team fell twice in hard-fought matches to conference opponent George Mason at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse over the weekend. The two losses take the Dukes’ record to 9-7, falling to 1-4 in conference play.

Standout sophomore outside hitter Emerson Schrom tallied 29 kills, 18 digs and three blocks on the weekend. Freshman outside hitter Karli Jordan also starred for the Dukes, totaling 24 kills and six blocks.

In the first match on Friday, the Patriots of George Mason took advantage of a sloppy set from the Dukes, roaring back from a 22-19 deficit to go on a 6-0 run and take the set from Duquesne, despite only hitting .059.

The second set was a more balanced affair, with the teams playing side-out volleyball throughout until another Patriots run gave them a 21-17 lead, which eventually led to a 25-21 set win and a 2-0 set deficit for the Dukes.

However, Duquesne wouldn’t go down without a fight. An early 6-0 run from sophomore middle blocker Mirabella Iriarte, filling in for injured junior middle blocker Jordan Robertson, gave the Dukes an 8-1 advantage.

Another big service run from senior outside hitter Hanna Wilson — with kills from Jordan, Iriarte and Schrom — gave the Dukes a 19-8 lead that took them to a dominant 25-14 set win.

The dominance of the third set sent a message to the Patriots, and the Dukes capitalized on that momentum in set four. A back-and-forth battle was capitalized by two Schrom kills and a Jordan kill to push the match to a decisive fifth set.

The Patriots started out the fifth set earning the first six points, with four of those points coming from Duquesne attack errors. The Dukes roared right back with the next seven points, including four straight Schrom kills.  

A late Patriots run gave George Mason a 12-9 advantage that they wouldn’t relinquish, taking the fifth set 15-11 and winning the match.

Schrom led the Dukes with her ninth double-double of the year, notching 20 kills and 13 digs. Seven of her 20 kills came in the deciding set.

Junior setter Chloe Wilmot notched her eighth double-double with 37 assists and 13 digs of her own. Iriarte added six kills and a career high four aces.

“I think Ella [Iriarte] did a solid job for us,” Opperman said. “She’s still learning the flow of the system, and I think she did a really good job from the service line for us. I thought she stepped in and did a really nice job and is continuing to move forward for us.”

The first set of the second match was very similar to the first set of the previous match — categorized by inefficiency for Duquesne. The Dukes hit .000 while the Patriots hit .297 and dominated the first set, 25-15.

The Dukes fought back in the second set, with a 5-0 run from Iriarte leading the way. Duquesne hit .367 in this second set, a dominant number to help even up the match at one.

Back-to-back service aces from Wilmot started the third set well for the Dukes, but it wouldn’t last very long. The Patriots played amazing defense in the set, forcing several Duquesne attack errors and leading to a 25-17 set win, pushing the Dukes to the brink.

Unlike the first match, the Dukes couldn’t find an answer for the Patriots offense as their backs were against the wall. Despite hitting .306 in the fourth set, George Mason always had a response and hit an even better .344. The Dukes kept fighting until the very end but fell to the Patriots 25-21 and lost their fifth match out of the last six games.

Jordan led the Dukes with 14 kills, hitting a very efficient .414 while tying her career high in kills. Wilmot had 31 assists, continuing to be in the top 10 in the country in assists per set.

Senior libero Madison Grimm had 11 digs and five assists, despite a nagging hip injury affecting her throughout the whole game.

After the game, Grimm spoke about what playing through her injury means to her and what she wanted her teammates to get out of her dedication to the team.

“For me, playing through my injury is more like ‘I just want to show up for my teammates,’” Grimm said.

“And I hope for my team, I hope it makes them realize how much I care about them and how I’m going to play through anything that I can because I want to be on the court with them.”

Noah Fries can be reached at friesn@duq.edu