TOWSON, Md. -- The Towson University women's volleyball team will officially open the 2018 CAA Championship Tournament on Friday afternoon as the fourth-seeded Tigers take on fifth-seeded Northeastern. First serve is set for 3 p.m. at the College of Charleston's F. Mitchell Johnson Center in Charleston, S.C.

First Serve
Towson enters the CAA Tournament as one of the hottest teams in the league, winning its last five outings. Since Mid-October, Towson has won 10 of its last 13 matches. The Tigers will look to open the Tournament and avenge a pair of five-set losses to Northeastern during the regular season.

In The National Rankings
This week's teams were neither ranked nor mentioned in the polls this week.

Scouting the Fourth-Seeded Tigers
Towson has been red-shot down the stretch, winning its last five matches in CAA action. Senior right sider Jocelyn Kuilan paces Towson's offense with 309 kills to date, edging rookie Emily Jarome's 297. Versatile junior Olivia Finckel is third with 280 kills while classmate Annie Ertz climbed into the 200-kill club as she brought her season total to 214. Another junior, Silvia Grassini, is closing in on the mark with 196 to date. It has been a service ace bonanza for Towson as of late as the Tigers have posted 22 combined aces in the last four matches. Jarome leads Towson with 27 while Anna Holehouse is close behind with 23. Ertz and Grassini have logged 22 apiece this season. On the back line, Holehouse is the Tiger leader with 554 digs to date, which ranks fourth for a single season in program history. She owns two of the top three marks of 596 (2015) and 595 (2017). Holehouse averages 4.82 digs per set in 2018. Setter Marrisa Wonders is second this season with 236. At the net, Towson has three players over the 100-block mark as Olamide Sonuga has 112 total blocks and a team-best 10 solo stops. Grassini is close with 107 while Finckel has turned aside 102 blocks. Sonuga averages just under one set per block (0.98) and has just five block errors this year. Four Tigers have played all 115 sets this season: Grassini, Finckel, Kuilan and Holehouse.

Scouting the Fifth-Seeded Huskies
Northeastern has cooled entering the Tournament, falling in two of its last three matches after reeling off four-straight. Two Huskies, Athena Adrila and Hannah Boyd, have surpassed the 300-kill mark with 334 and 330, respectively. Natalie Shollin is third with 234 kills. On the service line, Sherrie Wang has logged 34 aces with Gabrielle Tschannen three adrift with 31. Samantha Shupe has logged 1,101 assists this season, averaging 10.10 per set. Libero Gabrielle Eyl leads Northeastern's backline with 538 digs in her 98 sets played this year, averaging 5.49 digs per set to lead the CAA. Tschannen is the Huskies' top blocker with 84 while Shollin is the team leader with 13 block solos and ranks second with 76 assisted stops. Shupe and Clare Lund are rarely off the court as the pair are the only two Huskies to have played in all 109 sets this season.

Towson-Northeastern History
The Tigers and Huskies will play their third match this season. Northeastern won the previous two meetings in a pair of five-setters during the regular season. Friday's match will be the first meeting in the CAA Tournament between the programs. The Huskies lead the all-time series 24-13 since the teams first met during the 1987 season in Newark, Delaware. Friday's match will be the first neutral site meeting between the teams since that first match, a 2-0 Northeastern win at the Delaware Tournament.

Towson-Northeastern By the Numbers
All-Time Series Record  NU Leads 24-13
at Towson  NU 10-9
at Northeastern NU 13-4
at Neutral Sites NU 1-0
at Unknown Sites n/a
First Meeting 1987 - NU 2, Towson 0
Last Meeting Oct. 21, 2018
Northeastern 3, Towson 2 (Boston, Mass.)
Streak Northeastern +2

Last Time Out vs. Northeastern | Oct. 21, 2018 | Boston, Mass. | Cabot Center
It was a back-and-forth affair in the last meeting between the programs. The Huskies claimed the first set before Towson won sets two and three. Northeastern won the fourth set to force a fifth before the Huskies won the deciding frame 15-12 in Boston. Both teams hit well as the Tigers swung at a .305 percent clip while Northeastern hit .295 for the match. Annie Ertz paced the match with 22 kils while Emily Jarome and Olivia Finckel knocked down 13 and 12, respectively. The Tigers finished with 11 total blocks, led by six from Silvia Grassini and five from Olamide Sonuga. Marrisa Wonders dished out 30 assists en route to her eighth double-double of the season thanks to 12 digs.

With a Win Friday Towson Would...
- Extend its winning streak to six in a row.
- Towson would play in the CAA Tournament Semifinals for a fourth-straight season.
- Halt a two-match skid against Northeastern.
- Be the Tigers' first-ever neutral site win over Northeastern.

Towson vs. The CAA Tournament Field
During the 2018 regular season, the Tigers went a combined 4-6 against the other teams in the 2018 CAA Tournament field. Towson dropped a pair of five setters against its first-round opponent, Northeastern, and fellin a combined eight sets against Charleston. The Tigers swept UNCW 2-0 in a five-setter at home.

Block Party! You're Invited!
Lately it seems like the Tigers have done nothing but host block parts on the court. The Tigers are currently second in the CAA in team total blocks, swatting aside 261.5 opponent attacks, averaging 2.27 per set this season. In the month of November, Towson has logged 49 blocks, which ranks second in the league in that span. Only James Madison has more this month with 60. Towson chose a good time to get hot at the net as the Tigers are one of two teams in the league to go unbeaten in the month of November to date, joined by Hofstra.

2,000 Digs
Early in the Tigers' first set at James Madison (Sept. 29), redshirt senior libero Anna Holehouse became the first player in Towson history to post 2,000 digs. She finished with match with 20 digs and now has 2,227 career digs. She is also the seventh player in CAA history to reach the 2,000 digs mark. She ranks second all-time in CAA history with her career total. To date, Holehouse has 554 digs in 2018. She needs another 175 digs to overtake the league's all-time record of 2,401, held by Delaware's Stephanie Barry (2006-09).

Kuilan's Big Swing
Senior Jocelyn Kuilan is firmly one of the top offensive players in program history. The right sider has knocked down 1,482 kills in her career at Towson, ranking third all-time and is the sixth player in program history with at least 1,300 kills. In the Tigers' five set win at Hofstra, Kuilan surpassed Liz Goubeaux's mark of 1,404 (2001-04). April Hoffman (2002-05) leads the career records with 1,588 kills. Kuilan will need 107 kills to take the program's career record.

Sets on Sets on Sets on Sets
Two Tigers in their final seasons are climbing the program's all-time sets played list. Jocelyn Kuilan has seen time in 481 sets since stepping on the court for the first time in 2015. Kuilan is now tied for the program's all-time record with Lindsey Flaherty (2013-16), who also played in 481 career sets. Kuilan will break and add to that record with at least three sets guaranteed on Friday. Redshirt senior Anna Holehouse has seen action in 468 sets, ranking fourth all-time.

Sonuga Named CAA Defensive Player of of the Week (Nov. 12)
Senior Olamide Sonuga was a force at the net last week, helping the Tigers to a 2-0 record to conclude the regular season. The Haverhill, Massachusetts native dominated with 14 total blocks, including a pair of solo stuffs, one in each match. For the week, Sonuga averaged 1.75 blocks per set, aided by eight total blocks in just three sets against Delaware to help Towson lock in the No. 4 seed for the forthcoming CAA Tournament. Offensively, Sonuga knocked down 13 kills on just 29 swings at a .379 percent rate.

Kuilan Named NewDay USA Female Student-Athlete of the Week (Nov. 13)
A senior right side hitter, Jocelyn Kuilan helped the Tigers complete the regular season in style as the volleyball team went 2-0 last week, rallying past James Madison for a 3-2 win before sweeping Delaware 3-0 to cap the regular season. The Toa Baja, Puerto Rico native logged 25 kills in her eight sets of action, including 17 in the Tigers' five-set epic over James Madison. She added four blocks and nine digs to her week as well. In Towson's final set of the regular season, Kuilan drew even with the program record for set appearances, playing in her 481st career set.

Home Sweet Home: Part One
On Wednesday night, freshman Emily Jarome had the chance to play in her home state of Delaware for the first time as a Tiger after completing her scholastic career at Padua Academy in Dover, Delaware. Memorial Hall, located on the campus of Delaware State University, sits roughly 45 miles from Jarome's hometown of Wilmington, Delaware. Jarome had a solid showing back in her home state, finishing with five kills on 13 swings, posting two assists and adding three service aces to her line.

Tigers in the Community
Sunday was a busy day for the Tigers. Beginning at 9 a.m., the Tigers helped Towson University in hosting the 2018 Autism Awareness Walk at Johnny Unitas ® Stadium. Following the Autism Awareness Walk, the Tigers crossed the street to SECU Arena to face defending CAA Champion College of Charleston with a noon first serve. The Tigers sported their blue Autism jerseys for the duration of Sunday's showdown.


Three Tigers Earn All-CAA Accolades
A trio of Towson University women's volleyball student-athletes earned postseason recognition, announced by the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) in advance of the league's championship tournament.

Jocelyn Kuilan led Towson in the regular season with 309 kills, the fourth-straight season she has logged at least 300 kills. Hailing from Toa Baja, Puerto Rico, Kuilan averaged 2.69 kills per set entering the 2018 CAA Tournament while swinging at a .246 percent rate as she attempted 780 attacks. A strong server, Kuilan scored 16 service aces during the year. The foreign languages major has earned a spot on an All-CAA Team every season at Towson, including back-to-back second team accolades. Kuilan has played in every set for the Tigers this season while tying the program's career sets played mark with at least three sets to play on Friday.

Anna Holehouse led Towson's back-line efforts this season with 554 digs. Entering the CAA Tournament, Holehouse leads the league in total digs while ranking fourth in digs per set at a 4.82 rate. In the early portion of the season, Holehouse became the program's all-time digs leader and has brought her career total to 2,227, which ranks third all-time in league history. To date, the Joppa, Marylander has served a career second-best 23 aces. While working on her master's degree, Holehouse has put up 130 assists this season, the second-most in her Tiger career. She averages 1.13 assists per set entering Friday's match.

In her rookie season, Emily Jarome ranked second on the team in kills, scoring 297 in her 111 sets played. She established her career-high in kills, logging 23 against Northeastern (Sept. 21), the second 20-kill match of her first campaign. The Wilmington, Delaware native hit for .204 in her first season with the Tigers. Jarome logged a team-best 27 service aces, including nine in the final month of the regular season. At the net, Jarome finished the regular season with 44 total blocks, including five solo stops while logging 178 digs.