HARRISONBURG, Va., Sept. 4, 2009 – James Madison battled back from a 2-1 deficit and held an 11-8 lead in set five before Duquesne rallied for a 3-2 win on the opening day of the 2009 JMU Days Inn Invitational on Friday evening in Sinclair Gymnasium. 

Duquesne (4-1) defeated JMU (1-3) by set scores of 22-25, 25-23, 25-20, 19-25, and 15-13.  It was Duquesne’s first-ever win over JMU, having entered the match 0-3.  Earlier in the afternoon, St. Francis (Pa.) opened the tournament with a 3-0 win over Hampton by set scores of 25-22, 25-21, and 25-14.

I think overall our performance was improved from last weekend,” commented JMU head coach Disa Garner.  We blocked a lot of balls.  I thought our passing was incredibly solid.  Our middle blockers were good tonight as well as the outside hitters.  So three of our five hitting positions were really solid.  But because we haven’t been able to practice that lineup regularly [due to injuries], we can’t challenge them the same way mentally.  At the end, they started playing not to lose and that’s an area where we have to grow. We’re working hard to fix that.  They recognize things we need to change.  They’re practicing so that next time when we’re in that situation, we can come out on top.  I felt like we were two very evenly matched teams and we let that one go.”

Freshman Danielle Erb (Tampa, Fla./Plant) led the Dukes with 15 kills and 14 digs for her first career double-double.  She also had four service aces.  Junior middle blocker Jessica Zeroual (Ottawa, Ont./De La Salle) had the best match of her career with a career-high 15 kills on .565 hitting.  Sophomore Kelly Turner (Ontario, N.Y./Wayne Central) had 12 kills, four aces, and a match-high five blocks.

Garner added, “I was really pleased with Dani, Jess, and Kelly.  They really did a nice job.  I was especially impressed with the composure by all three of them.  Jess really hasn’t been on the court in this capacity, so she and Dani really played consistent, played to win, and played well when they needed to.”

Sophomore Holly Wall (Kaukauna, Wisc./Kaukauna) also had a double-double with 13 kills and 10 digs for the Dukes.  Junior Lauren Fanelli (Moon Township, Pa./Moon Area) tallied 55 assists and six digs.  Redshirt freshman libero Natalie Abel (Washington, Pa./Trinity) totaled a career-best 19 digs.  JMU had 14 aces as a team, its highest total since posting 17 in a 3-2 win over Bowling Green on Sept. 3, 2005.

Duquesne sophomore Nicole Wright led all players with 17 kills and 13 digs for a double-double.  Senior Jessica Artman added 15 kills on .462 hitting and sophomore Liz Homan chipped in 12 kills on .524 hitting and five blocks.  Chelsea Tillotson had 42 assists while Amy Palko tallied 14 digs.  Sara Scheirman added eight kills and 14 digs.

The match was evenly played throughout with 32 ties, 10 lead changes, and few large advantages.  Duquesne held a modest three-point lead early in set one before JMU rallied to a 9-9 tie.  DU led 18-16 when JMU went on a 5-0 run thanks to three aces by Turner.  The teams traded points and a kill by junior Lindsay Callahan (Virginia Beach, Va./Landstown) clinched the three-point win.  Fanelli had 14 assists in the set.

Set two again featured an early DU lead and a JMU rally.  Madison then pulled ahead 18-14 only to see Duquesne rally and tie.  JMU again pulled ahead 22-19 before DU finished on a 6-1 run for the 25-23 win.  Homan had five kills on six swings.

The third set featured Duquesne pulling away from a 12-12 tie with a 12-6 overall run.  Artman had six kills on seven swings and Tillotson tallied an impressive 17 assists out of Duquesne’s 25 points.

In set four, another four-point run with Turner at serve helped the Dukes to a 14-8 lead.  Duquesne got no closer than three points the rest of the way as a pair of mini three-point streaks for JMU aided the Dukes to a 25-19 win.  Erb and Turner each had four kills and Fanelli added 13 assists.

In the final set, JMU grabbed an early 3-1 lead thanks to a pair of Erb aces.  The teams traded points and JMU pulled away from an 8-8 tie with a Zeroual kill, a DU attack error, and another Erb ace for an 11-8 lead.  However, Homan’s kill ignited a three-point rally for Duquesne to tie at 11-11.  After another Zeroual kill, Duquesne tallied another three-point swing for a 14-12 lead.  Facing match point, Wall put down a kill to make it 14-13, but DU clinched on a JMU service error. 

In the tournament’s opening match, Shirley Miller led all players with 13 kills and 14 digs for a double-double for the St. Francis Red Flash.  Lauren Wingard added nine kills.  Rikki Myers totaled 31 assists and six digs.

Hampton was led by Adriana Vasquez with nine kills.  Lihi Elkayam totaled 17 assists in defeat.

The tournament resumes play on Saturday morning at 10 a.m. with Duquesne facing St. Francis.  JMU then squares off with Hampton at noon.  Duquesne and Hampton follow at 5 p.m. while JMU and St. Francis close the event at 7 p.m.