Duquesne University Women’s Volleyball Advances to A10 Conference Semi-finals

On Friday, November 18, Duquesne University Women's Volleyball team overcame a seemingly insurmountable deficit (0-2) against George Washington University to advance to the Atlantic 10 semi-finals round in Dayton, Ohio.

With Friday's win, the Dukes get the chance to dethrone the University of Dayton Flyers on Saturday at 5:00 PM. George Washington finishes the season 20-10 and can now begin to enjoy the holidays.

Recap

Faced with an opening-round elimination, Duquesne University's five Atlantic 10 All-conference players managed to rally the troops and overcome a two-set deficit.

George Washington's MacKenzie Knox played well, but couldn't find enough support from her teammates to outlast the Dukes. GW had five players with double-digit digs in the match while managing to hit just .158. Knox was the lone star for GW with 16 kills and no errors.

Sara Scheirman of Duquesne led all players with 18 kills and Allison Foschia and Liz Homan each chipped-in 13 kills in support of the victory.

Both teams battled throughout the five-set match—every set was decided by four points or fewer—but Duquesne University emerged from the dust victorious after winning the fifth set 15-11.

Other match results

In separate A10 Championship play, Saint Louis squeeked by Rhode Island, 3-2, and will take on second-seeded Xavier in a semi-finals match Saturday at 7:30 PM.

Prediction

As I accurately predicted in an earlier article, "Duquesne University Women's Volleyball: Atlantic 10 Conference Championship Outlook," Duquesne is faced with the challenge of besting top-seeded Dayton for a chance to play on Sunday for the A10 Championship. While my loyalty lies with the Dukes, reality is whispering in my ear that Duquesne lacks the consistency to overtake the Flyers for a spot in the finals on Sunday. Sadly, my previous predictions stand—Dayton will repeat as Atlantic 10 Women's Volleyball champs.

Giovanni Badalamenti lives in Pittsburgh and follows Duquesne University Women's Sports.

Read more from this contributor:

"Duquesne University Women's Soccer 2011 Season Recap, Highlights and a Fan's 2013 Outlook"

"Three of Major League Baseball's Most Memorable Moments"

"8 Tips for Losing Weight and Keeping it Off"

Sources:

Atlantic 10 Conference, recap, "Duquesne Rallies for 3-2 Victory Over George Washington"

Duquesne University, "Volleyball Comes Back from Two Sets Down to defeat George Washington 3-2"

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