Last Two at Home: The Towson volleyball team returns to SECU Arena for its final two home matches of the 2016 season this weekend. The Tigers welcome Hofstra on Friday, Nov. 4 for a 7 p.m. start before taking on Northeastern on Sunday, Nov. 6 at 1 p.m. Links to live stats and the vide feed can be found on the schedule page of TowsonTigers.com. Fans can also follow the Tigers on Twitter (
@Towson_VB) for updates.
More Than Just the Matches: In addition to the action on the court, there will be plenty going on in SECU Arena this weekend. Friday's match against Hofstra will be the Tigers' annual Autism match. The Tigers, who have been running their "Aces for Autism" program all season long will be wearing their special blue jerseys and fans who wear blue will receive free admission while supporting a good cause. On Sunday, the Tigers will honor seniors
Candace Steadman,
Lindsay Flaherty and
Jessica Lewis before the trio plays in their final home match.
Looking at the Tigers: The Tigers are coming off a 3-1 win at Elon on Friday to close out the month of October. Freshmen
Marrisa Wonders and
Annie Ertz along with senior
Jessica Lewis all posted double-doubles in the win. Towson is paced by Lewis offensively. She leads the team with 389 kills, 275 digs and 29 service aces. Sophomore
Jocelyn Kuilan is contributing 306 kills, 36 blocks and 35 service aces. Wonders has dished out a team-high 718 assists with 268 digs while redshirt sophomore
Anna Holehouse has 380 digs. Senior
Lindsay Flaherty leads the defense at the net with 94 blocks.
Scouting the Opponent: Hofstra comes to Towson winners of three straight matches. The Pride are led by reigning CAA Co-Offensive Player of the Week
Laura Masciullo. Masciullo has 345 kills and 158 digs while
Hannah Klemm has handed out 777 assists.
Luisa Domingues leads the defensive efforts with 366 digs.
Northeastern will visit Delaware on Friday night before coming to Towson on Sunday. The Huskies enter play this weekend with back-to-back wins under their belt.
Jamie Bredahl leads Northeastern with 287 kills, 291 digs and 39 service aces.
Kristen Walding has recorded 996 assists while
Caterina Rosander has posted 94 blocks.
Series History: Hofstra leads the all-time series with the Tigers 43-13. The Pride claimed a 3-1 victory when the two teams met in early October.
Laura Masciullo led Hofstra with 18 kills in that contest while
Jocelyn Kuilan had 16 kills and 13 digs for the Tigers.
Sunday's contest will be the 34th all-time meeting between the Tigers and Huskies. Northeastern leads the series, 20-14. The Huskies snapped the Tigers' four-match win streak in the series with a 3-2 victory earlier this season.
Kristen Walding had 43 assists, 10 digs and eight kills in that match for the Huskies while
Anna Holehouse posted 23 digs to lead the Tigers.
I'm Honored: Towson freshman
Marrisa Wonders was named the CAA Rookie of the Week on Monday. Wonders posted back-to-back double-doubles to earn her third rookie accolade of the season. Wonders finished the week with 56 assists (8.00 per set) and 29 digs (4.14 per set). She also contributed a kill and a block. Her back-to-back double-doubles gives her a team and CAA leading 17 double-double performances this season. Wonders was also named the TowsonTigers.com Female Student-Athlete of the Week on Tuesday.
A Kill Machine: Senior
Jessica Lewis had 11 kills against Elon, raising her season total to 389 kills. She currently ranks 12th in single-season history at Towson for total kills. Lewis needs 11 more kills to become the 11th player in program history with at least 400 kills in a single-season.
Hitting the Closing Stretch: Counting Friday's match against Hofstra, the Tigers have four matches left in the regular season. The top six teams at the end of the regular season advance to the CAA Tournament, which will be hosted by UNCW, Nov. 18-20. Towson enters play this week in a tie for fourth place in the standings with James Madison. The Tigers need one more win to guarantee themselves of a spot in the CAA Tournament.
Can You Dig It: Redshirt sophomore
Anna Holehouse continues to move closer to a career milestone. Holehouse enters play this weekend with 380 digs on the season and 976 digs for her career. Holehouse need 24 more digs to become the 15th player in program history with 1,000 career digs and the first since
Paige Sekerak in 2013. If Holehouse could reach the mark, she would be the just the second player in program history to reach the mark as a sophomore (
Alison Essink).
Up Next: The Tigers close out the regular season with a visit to William & Mary on Friday, Nov. 11 and James Madison on Saturday, Nov. 12.