RICHMOND, Va. – Second-seeded Loyola Chicago reached its fourth straight Atlantic 10 Volleyball Championship final with a rallying, 3-2 (25-27, 15-25, 25-20, 25-20, 15-11) victory over No. 6 Duquesne in the Atlantic 10 Volleyball Championship semifinals Saturday at the Siegel Center. 

The Ramblers, who have won two A-10 titles since joining the league in 2022, were down 0-2 to the upstart Dukes before winning sets three through five. LUC will face No. 4 VCU for the title and NCAA Tournament bid Sunday at noon.

Duquesne won a hard-fought first set after falling behind by five on a Kaitlyn Burke kill that capped the Ramblers opening run of eight of the first 11 points. The Dukes battled back with a 4-0 run spurred by a Chloe Wilmot ace and kills from Jordan Robertson and Carsyn Henschen. The battle, which featured multiple marathon points, was tight from there, pushing into extra points before an attack error and an Emerson Schrom kill closed it out.

The second set was all Duquesne, with the Dukes posting a 15-2 run in the middle of the set that all but cemented a 2-0 match lead. Henschen picked up five of those points on kills and Ariel Helm and Schrom each had two.

Loyola came out hot in set three, rolling off six straight on two kills and a block by Remmes. Duquesne rallied and tied the match, and the teams traded points until another Rambler run, this one 6-1 capped by a Burke kill to make the match score 2-1. Set four was a similar affair, with a Ramblers run of 9-3, capped b y a Burke kill. Loyola never relinquished that lead and forced the decisive fifth set on a Remmes kill.

Set five was tight until a Burke kill ignited a 5-1 run that ended with a Claire Van Den Herik kill for the match victory.

Schrom had 28 kills, and 188 digs for a double-double for Duquesne. Henschen tallied 13 kills and Kylie Griffin had 11 kills for the Dukes. Madison Grimm recorded 27 digs and Helm and Remmes each tied with four blocks.

Rammes also had 19 kills and hit .326 for the Ramblers, just behind Burke’s 21 kills. Burke also had a double-double with 28 digs. Karli Molnau added 13 kills.