Into the Home Stretch: The Towson University volleyball team has four matches remaining in the regular season and all four will be played inside SECU Arena. The action starts Friday as College of Charleston visits before UNCW comes to town on Saturday evening. Both matches will begin at 7 p.m. and links to the live stats and video feed can be found on the schedule page of TowsonTigers.com. Fans can also follow the Tigers on Twitter (
@Towson_VB) for updates.
Big Weekend: It's a big weekend for the Tigers as Friday night in the team's "Autism Awareness" match. The team will be wearing its blue jerseys and all fans are encouraged to wear blue to support the cause. Fans with questions or looking to claim tickets for that match can email
TUAutismAwareness@towson.edu. On Saturday, the Tigers will welcome back any alumnae in attendance.
Looking at the Tigers: The Tigers stretched their win streak to seven straight matches with road wins over Hofstra (3-0) and Northeastern (3-1) last week. Junior
Jocelyn Kuilan led the Tigers with 26 kills, 14 digs and four service aces in the two matches combined. Kuilan paces the Tigers on the season with 289 kills, 122 digs and a team-high 31 service aces. Fellow junior
Carola Biver is contributing 246 kills and 200 digs while sophomore
Marrisa Wonders has dished out a team-high 592 assists. Redshirt junior
Anna Holehouse leads the defensive efforts with 439 digs as junior
Olamide Sonuga has a team-high 81 blocks.
Scouting the Cougars: The College of Charleston enters Friday's match with a record of 22-4 overall and in first place in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) standings with a league mark of 11-1. The Cougars are coming off a 3-0 win over UNCW last time out.
Jane Feddersen and
Lauren Freed led the Cougars with eight kills each in that match.
Devon Rachel leads the College of Charleston with 277 kills and 184 digs while
Krissy Mummey is adding 267 kills and 73 blocks.
Allison Beckman has handed out 1,000 assists while
McKala Rhodes has 417 digs.
College of Charleston Series History: Towson and the College of Charleston will meet for the 11th time on Friday night. The Cougars lead the series 8-2 and have won three straight after posting a 3-0 win earlier this season in Charleston.
Silvia Grassini led the Tigers with seven kills, two blocks and a service ace in that match while
Krissy Mummey led the Cougars with 14 kills.
Scouting the Seahawks: UNCW will take an 8-16 overall and 2-10 CAA mark into its match at Delaware on Thursday before visiting Towson on Saturday night.
Halle Hunt enters play this week with 191 kills and 32 service aces while
Maddy Kline has 199 kills and 225 digs.
Anna Moss is the Seahawks' top blocker with 81 and also contributes 120 kills.
Brynn Montgomery has recorded 527 assists.
UNCW Series History: Saturday's meeting between the Tigers and Seahawks will be the 32nd all-time. The Tigers lead the matchup between the two squads, 23-8. The Tigers have won four straight against UNCW after posting a 3-1 win earlier this season in Wilmington.
Julymar Otero posted her second triple-double of the season with 12 kills, 22 assists and 12 digs versus the Seahawks while
Maddy Kline led UNCW with 11 kills and 16 digs.
Spot Clinched: With their wins over Hofstra and Northeastern, the Tigers clinched a spot in the upcoming CAA Championship, which will be held Nov. 16-18 at James Madison University. The top six teams advance to the tournament with the first and second seeds getting a bye through the first round of action. WIth four matches remaining, the Tigers are currently tied for second in the CAA standings. It will mark the Tigers' fourth straight appearance in the CAA Championship under head coach
Don Metil.
Finckel Steps Up: Making her first start of the season against Hofstra, sophomore
Olivia Finckel stepped up in a big way for the Tigers. Finckel matched her career-high with a match-high 14 kills and three blocks. She followed that up with 10 kills and two blocks in the win at Northeastern. The pair of double-digit kill performances were the first of Finckel's Towson career.
Acing Our Way to Victory: One of the keys to success for the Tigers during their current seven-match win streak has been the ability to deliver a service ace. Towson has 36 service aces during that stretch, including a season-best 13 aces in the win over Delaware. The Tigers have recorded six or more service aces in five of those contests. Sophomore
Silvia Grassini has 12 service aces during that stretch while junior
Jocelyn Kuilan has added 10 aces.
Welcome Back Alumnae: The Tigers give a warm welcome back to any alumane in attendance this weekend. The Tigers will recognize their alumnae during Saturday's match.
1,500 and Counting: Redshirt junior
Anna Holehouse had 21 digs in Sunday's win at Northeastern, including the 1,500 of her career. Holehouse joins
Paige Sekerak and
Stacy Humphries as the only players in school history to record over 1,500 digs in their careers. She enters play this weekend with 1,517 digs for her career. Holehouse needs 100 more digs to move into a tie with Humphries for second place on the career digs list at Towson.
Holehouse's 27 digs last weekend gave her 439 for the season. She is the second player in program history to record at least 400 digs in three seasons (Sekerak).
Up Next: It's a quick turnaround for the Tigers as they are back on the court to host James Madison on Monday, November 6 at 7 p.m.
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