Volleyball thinks pink

It was an evening of career highs Friday night as the Xavier volleyball team swept Duquesne at Cintas Center. Duquesne entered Friday's match with the best overall winning percentage in the Atlantic 10, but Xavier rose to the occasion. The girls also made strides in the fight against breast cancer. The volleyball players and staff organized an event titled, "Think Pink: Dig for the Cure." Donations were accepted and pink XU shirts were sold to benefit the American Cancer Society at the match. One dollar of every ticket sold also supported the cause. "The Duquesne game was one of our most complete matches. Everyone played their part as well as we have all year," head coach Mike Johnson said. Among all of the career high performances, sophomore Kelsey Dunaway set three separate personal highs, leading the match with 12 kills while also tallying career highs of five digs and four assisted blocks. Other career highs against the Dukes included eight digs by redshirt freshman Alex Blair and 10 digs by senior Michelle Matia. Dunaway matched her career high of 12 kills again on Saturday against St. Louis University (SLU). Junior Kaleigh Rougraff also led the Musketeers with a double-double of 11 kills and 14 digs against the Billikens. Aubree and Alex Smith, who hail from St. Louis, also had big outings against SLU. The Smith sisters did not disappoint against their hometown university as Alex contributed nine kills, two digs and a team-best four assisted blocks. Younger sister Aubree recorded 36 assists, five kills, seven digs and two assisted blocks en route to her fourth A-10 Rookie of the Week honor.

Among all of the stars for XU this weekend, Dunaway, Blair, Alex Smith and Aubree Smith are all either in their freshman or sophomore seasons. Coach Johnson says that leadership is spread across the board on this team, veterans and young players included.

"Our youth has played very well and Aubree has been our floor captain," Johnson said.

"It's exciting to think how good we can be not only this season, but in years to come," Johnson said.

"Our youth has played very well and Aubree has been our floor captain," Johnson said.

"Our staff did a wonderful job organizing the event, in terms of championing the cause as well as making [the event] run smoothly," Johnson said.