Nov. 3, 2006

Box Score

PITTSBURGH, PA - Senior Amanda Haeg went out in style on Senior Night leading the Dukes in a 3-1 Atlantic 10 win over Rhode Island Friday night at the A.J. Palumbo Center. The New Prague, Minn. native led the Dukes with a double-double landing 15 kills and a match-best 24 digs while adding five blocks and two aces.

Jenni Gross and Jessica Artman each added 10 kills in the win while Leah Mayo recorded 14 digs. Chelsea Tillotson had 47 assists and 11 digs on the night as well.

Rhode Island's Ivy Zuidhof led the match with 16 kills and Leslie Wiekamp paced the Rams with 17 digs. The loss is the seventh's straight for the Rams who have played five of their last seven matches on the road.

Rhode Island held an 11-8 lead in game one before Haeg tied the contest at 11-11 with a kill, but Inga Schlecht would serve for four points, including an ace, for a 16-11 Rhode Island lead. URI led 20-16 but the Dukes served four straight points for a 20-20 tie and they would out-score the Rams 10-6 in the final stretch for a 30-26 victory.

The Rams led 7-2 in game two but an 8-3 Duquesne run knotted the game at 10-10 after a Dana McLaughlin ace. Rhode Island took advantage of two Duquesne errors to take a 16-13 edge before DU's Mandy Humphrey tied the game at 17-17 on a kill. A four-point URI spree and five-point Duquesne run followed for a 22-21 Duquesne edge. Five ties followed with the last being 28-28 on a Haeg kill and ace, but the Rams used a kill and DU hitting error to take game two 30-28.

Game three saw a solid early effort from the Red & Blue which held a 17-14 lead. The Rams tied the game at 17-17 but Jessica Artman, Jenni Gross Tillotson and Haeg each posted kills for a 22-18 Duquesne advantage. DU would extend its lead to 26-20 on a Tillotson dump and win it on a McLaughlin ace.

Haeg took over the Duquesne single-season kills record with her 10th kill in game four giving the Dukes a 7-3 lead over the Rams. Duquesne would see a 23-13 lead before a Rams' 8-3 scoring drive brought the visitor to a 25-21 reach. DU held a 27-22 lead on a block before two URI kills closed the gap to 27-24. Two Duquesne hitting errors combined with a kill and Rhode Island block to bring the match to a 29-28 URI reach but Lindsay Hess sealed the victory with a kill for the 30-28 final.

Duquesne held a 75-74 edge in digs, but Rhode Island led in kills 65 to 62. The win puts the Dukes 11-19 overall, 4-7 in Atlantic 10 play while Rhode Island falls to 6-22 overall, 2-9 in league action.

Haeg's season kill total now stands at 448 giving her 1,128 on her career - good for fifth on the all-time list.

Duquesne closes out the season with two of the league's top opponents traveling to Dayton Nov. 10 and Xavier Nov. 11.