Noah Fries | staff writer

The Duquesne volleyball team fell twice in straight sets to Loyola Chicago at Joseph J. Gentile Arena in Chicago over the weekend. The 0-2 record on the week evens the Dukes’ record to 9-9 with a 1-6 conference record, despite starting the season 7-0.

The Dukes have faced a tough conference schedule to start the year, already going against the teams projected to finish in the top three of the A10 in Dayton, Virginia Commonwealth University and Loyola Chicago.

Sophomore outside hitter Emersen Schrom led Duquesne with 17 kills, adding four blocks and an ace over the six sets. Senior middle blocker Ariel Helm also had double digit kills, notching 12 and four blocks.

In the first match of the weekend, the Ramblers jumped out to an early 9-3 lead and never looked back, taking the set 25-17. Loyola Chicago hit an efficient .345, while the Dukes only hit .088.

The Dukes fought back in set two, playing side-out volleyball until a couple of short Ramblers runs had the Dukes down 20-17.

The Ramblers then went on a 5-0 run, marked by two Duquesne attacking errors and two service aces, taking the second set by the same score.

Looking to avoid the sweep, the Dukes fought to stay within three points of Loyola Chicago throughout the third set until another late run gave the Ramblers a 22-17 advantage, which would lead to a 25-20 set and match win.

Freshman outside hitter Karli Jordan led Duquesne in kills with nine, while Schrom added eight kills, 10 digs and three blocks. Junior setter Chloe Wilmot notched 24 assists, seven digs and three kills for the Dukes.

The Dukes simply couldn’t get their offense rolling, only hitting .118 on the match — well below their season average. Despite this, Head Coach Steve Opperman praised his team for their resilience, but also noted that things need to change as the season progresses.

“I think our kids competed,” Opperman said. “It wasn’t a matter of backing down, it’s just a matter of cleaning up mistakes and unforced errors. Not that we’ll ever master the mental side of the game, but I think that if we get better at the mental side, things will get better for us.”

Unfortunately for the Dukes, the second match of the weekend was more of the same, categorized by unforced errors and ineffective attacking numbers.

In the first set, the Ramblers and Dukes each went on runs early by capitalizing on the others’ mistakes, with attacking and service errors found throughout both teams in the first set.

Despite seven attacking errors for the Ramblers and hitting just .194, they were able to take the first set from the Dukes, 25-23. Duquesne had seven attacking errors in the first set, hitting just .103.

The second set was almost all Loyola Chicago, riding a .423 attacking percentage to a dominant 25-15 set win, pushing the Dukes to the brink for the second consecutive match.

The third set was an all-out brawl, with the teams trading the first 14 points of the set.  

However, two big runs from the Ramblers gave them a 17-10 advantage, a deficit that would turn out to be insurmountable for Duquesne. The Dukes couldn’t claw any closer than four points, and Loyola Chicago took the set 25-20, winning the match.

Schrom led the team with nine kills, while also adding nine digs and an ace. Helm was the most efficient attacker for the Dukes, tallying eight kills while hitting .333. Wilmot added another 24-assist performance.

Opperman echoed his prior sentiments about growing mentally after the match, with two matches at Fordham looming on the horizon.

“Again, that mental aspect is key for us to improve on,” Opperman said. “But also, when we’re up in games, we need to finish them. Our killer mindset kind of went away a little bit, and it started to come back at points this weekend. We’re working on our deficiencies, specifically our scoring game. Our point-scoring and blocking and defending just needs a little more work.”

Coaches and players alike identified their largest areas to improve on, including ball control and hitting efficiency. Schrom and the rest of the team remembers their 7-0 start and is eager to get back to that mindset despite their recent struggles.

“For myself, I always need to work on ball control,” Schrom said. “I think I’ve been pretty high in errors in the last couple of games, and that’s just a confidence and mindset thing. As a team, I think we need to get defensive touches more and also just work on playing together and having that aggressive mindset. When that clicks, we’ll be fine — and that’s comforting to know.”

Noah Fries can be reached at friesn@duq.edu