Noah Fries | sports editor

The Duquesne volleyball team improved its record to 11-2 with two victories over Fordham over the weekend at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse, giving the squad its best start to a season in program history.

The Dukes continued their dominance to start the season by starting out 2-0 in Atlantic 10 conference play. The wins would also extend the team’s winning streak to five and start out 2-0 in conference play for the first time in five seasons.

“There’s just a different vibe,” Head Coach Steve Opperman said about his team. “This is probably one of the most, if not the most, physical teams that I’ve coached here at Duquesne. So far, we’ve been a pretty good group of being unselfish teammates. I think this group is a little bit more well-rounded in all aspects of the game of volleyball.”

Junior outside hitter Emersen Schrom recorded her 1,000th career kill in the first match, continuing to contribute to a team that she has started on since her freshman year.

Freshman right side hitter Simone Searles left the weekend with accolades once again, being named A10 Rookie of the Week for the second consecutive week and third week overall.

In the Friday nightcap, the Dukes held a comfortable lead before a 6-0 run from Fordham — marked by three attacking errors by Duquesne — would give the Rams a 21-16 advantage that they would not relinquish. The Dukes would commit eight hitting errors in the set as the Rams would take a 25-20 set win.

Duquesne would bounce back and take advantage of Fordham attacking errors (seven) and efficient attacking (hitting .346 with 12 kills to just three errors) to knot up the match with a 25-17 victory.

The third set would be categorized by a series of runs, as the Dukes would take an early 6-0 run to take a 9-3 lead. The Rams, however, would storm right back with three- and four-point runs late in the set to steal the win and push the Dukes to the brink.

Duquesne was completely dominant in the fourth set, holding the Rams to just five kills in the set while hitting .314 to win 25-12 and push the match to the decisive fifth set. The fifth set would be even more dominant for the Dukes, as they would hit .667 (nine kills to just one error on 12 swings) and win its first conference match with a 15-6 triumph in the final set.

Schrom finished the match with 25 kills, tallying her 1,000th kill late in the fifth set. Searles would post 18 kills, while freshman outside hitter Londyn Stone would notch her second double-double of the season with 10 kills and 13 digs. Graduate libero Delaney McIntosh added a game-high 23 digs, which would set a career high as well.

“Her hitting efficiency is consistently rising,” Opperman said of Schrom. “It’s close to .300, which is pretty crazy for a left pin. Emmy’s just continually evolving her game. She’s really developing into a well-rounded volleyball player.”

“I think I’ve just gotten more efficient as an attacker,” Schrom said. “It just comes with getting used to the speed of the game. I think the team has gotten better progressively every year that I’ve been here, so it’s been really easy to just focus on getting better and not having to worry about outside issues.”

The second match of the weekend started out back-and-forth for the first 20 points before the Dukes would take advantage of four attacking errors by the Rams to punctuate two long runs, giving the team a 25-16 victory.

The second set would be very similar to the first, as Duquesne would go on several runs throughout the set and hit .385 en route to a 25-15 set victory — pushing Fordham to the cusp of starting 0-2 in conference play.

The Rams, however, would roar back in the third set. Fordham would tally 19 kills in the set and withstand a late Duquesne run to win 26-24 and push the match to a fourth set.

Battling late in the fourth set, each team would go on consecutive runs of three or more points to knot the set at 24 — pushing the set into extra points. Duquesne got a kill from senior middle blocker Jordan Robertson to give the team match point, which it would get on a Rams attacking error to close out the match.

Searles would tally 20 kills in the match, breaking her previous career high set the day prior. Schrom notched 19 kills to go with 11 digs and three service aces, while senior setter Chloe Wilmot would post 43 assists.

“I think our depth this year is so good,” Schrom said. “I think there’s so many people you could put at so many different positions, and I think we’ve seen that throughout the year. Somebody can have a bad game, and it doesn’t matter because there are so many others there to pick up the slack.”

Noah Fries can be reached at friesn@duq.edu