VCU women’s volleyball dominates Duquesne, 3-1
VCU women's volleyball players huddles up before a play. Photo by Andrew Hill.
Violet Velasquez, Contributing writer
Malachi Keys, Contributing writer
The VCU women’s volleyball team continues their winning streak as they beat Duquesne University on their home court for their third consecutive win this past Friday night.
At the beginning of the first set, the Rams came out red-hot and built an early 3-0 lead over Duquesne; a lead they upheld for the entirety of the first set.
Multiple Rams participated in the killing spree as setters junior Taylor Aguano and graduate student AnnaBelle Tomei were making big time connections with their middle blockers and outside hitters.
Senior middle blocker Jasmine Knight lit up the stat sheet, acquiring four kills and a block in the first set.
VCU won the first set 25-17.
The second set was considerably more competitive than the first. Both teams were neck and neck for most of the set.
VCU struggled to dig out the ball and block during this set. Seeming to be down by a point or two, the Rams stayed within striking distance.
Late in the set, the Rams took a 26-25 lead. On the set point, the Dukes began a three consecutive point streak to shut out the Rams and take the second set 28-26.
“This was a team that we should have come out and owned the game a little bit more,” said head coach Tim Doyle
Knight collected the first points of the third set for the black and gold and evened the score to 3-3 at the start.
VCU maintained their lead as they held the Dukes at 15 points and ended with 25.
This was the final stretch the Rams needed to ensure their win.
The intensity rose during three separate point challenges, two out of three awarded to the black and gold.
The frequent breaks surprised the rams and affected their playing style, according to senior outside hitter Ana Brangioni.
“When there’s a lot of breaks it can become challenging to refocus,” Brangioni said.
Duquesne started the fourth set with possession, resulting in a kill by VCU junior opposite hitter Parker Hartzell.
Knight dominated the stat sheet as she obtained 14 of her 19 points in the fourth set and assisted the Rams in maintaining the lead, according to StatBroadcast.
Duquesne opted for a timeout well into the set, resulting in another point scored on VCU’s behalf.
As the score rose to the high 20s, VCU juniors Hartzell, Brangioni and Knight collected the last few points to secure the last and final win, according to StatBroadcast.
The Rams celebrated their win and took a lot of useful information with them to practice, according to coach Doyle.
“We are happy with the dub 1-0 tonight, but I think there’s a fire for the next games where we need to come out and make more of a statement,” Doyle said.
The VCU Rams will host Fordham University at the Siegel Center on Oct. 7 at 1 p.m.
