Philadelphia, PA - In their first home weekend of Atlantic 10 competition, the La Salle Explorer volleyball team fell to the Duquesne Dukes 3-0, Friday night at Tom Gola Arena. The Explorers remain winless in conference play at 0-6 and 8-16 overall, while the Dukes stand at 9-12 overall and 3-3 in the A-10.

After playing evenly for the first part of game one, the Duquesne Dukes went on a 12-point run to run away with game one 30-14.

The Explorers fell behind again in game two, but senior Robyn Wright (Salem, OH/Salem) nailed a solo block to give La Salle a 21-20 advantage and their first lead of the game. After trading a few points, Duquesne turned the tables on
La Salle and wendtt ahead 25-24. Junior Lauren Woods (Akron, OH/Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy) knocked down a kill to get the Explorers to within one again at 28-27 and then tied the game at 28-28. Duquesne's Sarah Morrow (Baytown, TX/Robert E. Lee) dropped on a kill on the Explorers to lift Duquesne to victory in game two.

After the break, the Explorers came out and took a three point lead at 7-4, and led the way until Duquesne tied the score at 11-11. The Dukes fell behind a point and then tied the score again at 12-12. Stephanie Hopkins (Tonawanda, NY/Sweet Home) dropped back-to-back kills on La Salle to propel the Dukes into the lead at 14-12. Duquesne increased its lead to as much as five, before the Explorers attempted a come back which fell short. The closest La Salle cam to the lead was at 23-20.

Wright led La Salle in kills with 12 and hit .417 for the match. She also posted the Explorers only two solo blocks and assisted on the team's only other blocks (2).

On defense, junior Amanda Woods (Cincinnati, OH/McNicholas) tallied 13 digs for La Salle.

Duquesne was led by Hopkins and Ashley Macko (Pittsburgh, PA/South Park) who each landed 13 kills. Morrow added an 10 kills and tallied 10 digs.

The Explorers are back in action tomorrow evening when they host the George Washington Colonials at Tom Gola Arena, game time 5:00 p.m.