SPORTS

DAVIDSON, N.C. – Davidson began its Atlantic 10 season with an impressive showing by rolling past Duquesne, 3-0 (25-19, 25-15, 25-12) ,Friday night inside John M. Belk Arena.

The Wildcats (7-4, 1-0 A-10) avenged two defeats last year to the Dukes, who fell to 5-8 on the season (0-1 A-10).

Ellie Crosley and Ciera Cockrell led the way offensively with 13 and 11 kills, respectively, and Davidson as a team hit a stellar .320 for the match with just 10 hitting errors on 122 attempts. Crosley connected on 54.5 percent of her swings, while Alison Jennings was at .417 (six kills on 12 attempts).

Mason Rooney had 26 assists, and Josie Treadwell (16) and Elise Edman (15) combined for 31 digs.

Duquesne was held to .059 hitting for the match, with no one reaching double-digits in kills. Summer Slade had eight, while Kori Johnson and Maddie Bazelak registered seven apiece. Dani Suiter had 23 assists.

After the first set went back and forth to start the match, the Wildcats went to work doubling up the Dukes at 14-7 with an 8-2 run. Crosley led the way, getting four of her seven first-set kills during the run. Later, Crosley made it 24-15 and Katharine Franz sealed up the 25-19 win with a kill off a Rooney assist.

Davidson raced out to a 7-1 lead in the second set before Duquesne closed back in at 13-10 on a Slade kill. It would be as close as the score would get, as the ‘Cats ran off six straight points to go up 19-10 and went on to pick up the second-set win.

The final set was the most dominate for the Wildcats, hitting .469 with 16 kills on 32 attempts and just one error. They opened up a 10-4 lead and eventually doubled up the Dukes on back-to-back Rooney kills at 16-6. Two Crosley kills later made it 22-11 and an attacking error by Duquesne capped off the set at 25-12.

Davidson will host La Salle Sunday for another A-10 match at 1 p.m.