TOWSON, Md. – Just one road match adorns the weekend schedule for the Towson University women's volleyball team. The Tigers make the trek to Harrisonburg, Virginia for a showdown of last season's CAA Semifinals against the Dukes of James Madison.

Weekly Schedule
Saturday, Sept. 29 | Towson at James Madison | 7 p.m.
 
Broadcast Information
Saturday's showdown at Sinclair Gymnasium will be carried live and free on MadiZONE. Curt Dudley and Matt Weyrich will have the call. Links for the match can be found on the volleyball schedule of TowsonTigers.com.

First Serve
The Tigers hit the road for the first time in league play this weekend as Towson heads down to Harrisonburg, Virginia for a clash with the league-leading Dukes of James Madison.

In The National Rankings
Neither team was ranked nor mentioned in the polls this week.

Scouting the Road-Bound Tigers
Towson concluded a program-record tying 10-match home streak on Monday night against Hofstra University. The Tigers fell in three sets to the Pride. It was the 17th match in three weeks host by Towson at SECU Arena following two invitationals and three league games. Freshman Emily Jarome leads the Tiger offense with 2.91 kills per set, knocking down 166 total kills in 57 sets played. Senior right sider Jocelyn Kuilan is second on the team with 2.63 kills per frame with 158 in her 60 sets played. Running two setters, two Tigers inch closer to the 300 set mark as rookie Kristin Spengler leads with 286 while junior Marrisa Wonders is second with 245. On the back line, redshirt senior libero Anna Holehouse paces Towson with 323 total digs, which ranks her ninth across all Division I programs. She ranked 23rd nationally in digs per set, averaging 5.38. At the net, senior Olamide Sonuga has stuffed opponents 52 total times, including 46 block assists. Versatile junior Olivia Finckel is second on the team with 45 total blocks, 39 of which are assisted.  

In league play, Jarome leads with 4.00 kills per set, putting down 32 kills despite playing just eight CAA sets. Kuilan is second with 3.09 kills per CAA set. Holehouse has 51 CAA digs to date, averaging 4.64 per league frame. Sonuga is Towson's top Tiger at the net in conference matches, averaging 1.09 blocks per set with 12 total blocks in 11 CAA sets.

Scouting the Host Dukes
James Madison enters the second week of CAA action with an overall record of 11-3 and a clean 3-0 mark in league matches after topping Delaware in straight sets last week. M'Kaela White is the top offensive threat for a versatile James Madison squad. She averages 2.94 kills per set, but four Dukes average north of 2.00 per set as well. Sarah Driscoll is the team leader with 255 digs, averaging 4.12 per set in her 54 sets played. White will be a force at the net as she has 76 total blocks to her credit, averaging 1.41 per set. Three Dukes have double-digit service aces in 2018, paced by 15 from Jacqui Koebel. Tilbe Yaglioglu has 14 while Bryn Recker has 10. As a team, James Madison averages 1.28 service aces per set this season. Despite the strong serving ability, James Madison has had 103 total reception errors this season.

Towson-James Madison History
The Tigers and Dukes are familiar foes as the two sides meet for the 57th time this weekend since the series first began in 1976, the Tigers' first varsity season. James Madison leads the all-time series 28-31, but Towson took the regular season series 2-0 last year. The Dukes won 3-0 in the CAA Tournament, hosted in Harrisonburg. The series has been back-and-forth since Towson head coach Don Metil took over the helm for the 2013 season. In that span, Towson has the longest winning streak at three and since then, neither team has connected more than two wins.

Towson-James Madison By the Numbers
All-Time Series Record  JMU leads 31-28
at Towson  Towson 15-6
at James Madison JMU 18-8
at Neutral Sites JMU 6-1
at Unknown Sites Towson 2-1
First Meeting 1976, Towson 2-0
Last Meeting Nov. 17, 2017
James Madison 3, Towson 0
Streak JMU +1

Last Time Out vs. James Madison | Nov. 17, 2017 | Harrisonburg, Va. | Sinclair Gymnasium
For a second-straight season, the Tigers and Dukes squared off in the CAA Semifinals, with the most recent matchup coming at James Madison's Sinclair Gymnasium. Jocelyn Kuilan led the Tigers with 15 kills while Julymar Otero handed out 20 assists. Marrisa Wonders joined her in double-digit assists with a baker's dozen. The Tigers got a trio of service aces, including a pair from Camryn Allen and one from Kuilan. Bryn Recker finished with a team-best 12 kills for James Madison as the Dukes advanced to the 2017 CAA Championship match.  

With a Win Saturday Towson Would...
- Snap a two-match slide in CAA matches after dropping two contests in three days last weekend against Northeastern (3-2) and Hofstra (3-0).
- Win its third match over the Dukes of James Madison in its last four outings.
- Win back-to-back matches in Harrisonburg for the first time since November 2011 and October 2012.
- Collect a third-straight win in non-neutral sites over James Madison.
- Earn its first win in Harrisonburg since a 3-2 win on Nov. 8, 2014.

Sonuga Named NewDay USA Female Student-Athlete of the Week (Sept. 25)
In the first weekend of CAA action, Olamide Sonuga played all eight sets as the Tigers split their first two league matches. The Haverhill, Massachusetts native was strong at the net, finishing with nine total blocks, including a pair of solo stuffs against Northeastern. In the Tigers' CAA opener against Delaware, Sonuga assisted on six blocks. On the attack, Sonuga hit for .320, including four kills on nine swings against Delaware (.444).

Holehouse: Record Setter (but for Digs)
In Towson's first match of the Tiger Invitational, redshirt senior Anna Holehouse became the program's all-time career digs leader as she kept her 1,870th ball alive. She surpassed former teammate Paige Sekerak's all-time mark of 1,869. For her efforts, Holehouse was named CAA Defensive Player of the Week. She was also featured on NCAA.com in a feature titled "60 Seconds of Chaos." 

Holehouse is just four digs away from becoming the first player in program history to surpass the 2,000 career mark. She is poised to be the seventh player in Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) history to hit the milestone. She has an outside chance to become the league's all-time career leader as former Delaware student-athlete Stephanie Barry holds the top mark of 2,401.

Home Sweet Home.
Seriously. Home Sweet Home,
For Real Though. Still Home.
Last week's matches ran Towson's stretch of home contests to a 10 in a row, dating back to the Sept. 6 start to the Towson Invitational. This week, Towson will play consecutive home matches eight (Delaware), nine (Northeastern) and 10 (Hofstra). It's just the third time in the program's Division I Era (1979) the Tigers will play 10-straight home matches, joining the 1982 and 1984 squads.

Kuilan's Big Swing
Senior Jocelyn Kuilan is firmly one of the top offensive players in program history. The right sider has knocked down 1,331 kills in her career at Towson, ranking sixth all-time and is poised to become the sixth player in program history with at least 1,300 kills. She needs 21 more kills to surpass Maddie Haseltine (2005-08). April Hoffman (2002-05) leads the career records with 1,588 kills. Kuilan averages 391 kills per season, including a rookie season with 426. Kuilan will need 320 kills to take the program's career record. Kuilan continues to climb in the program's all-time sets played list. She has seen time in 426 sets, ranking among the top 20. The program's all-time mark is 481 sets played by Lindsey Flaherty (2013-16).

Tigers in the Pros
In early September, former Tiger Julymar Otero signed a professional contract to play professional volleyball for the Altay Volleyball Club in Kazakhstan. Additionally, Otero will play for the Puerto Rico National Team at the FIVB World Championship in Japan this weekend. Her native Puerto Rico opens action on Saturday against Brazil. The Puerto Rican side will also face Kazakhstan, Kenya, the Dominican Republic and Serbia in successive days.