Women's Volleyball 10/20/2022 12:00:00 AM

Weekend Preview: No. 23 Women's Volleyball Set for New England Challenge Beginning on Friday Night

WHAT TO KNOW
• No. 23 Babson is set to participate in the seventh edition of the New England Challenge over the second-to-last weekend of the regular season.
• The Beavers will host Middlebury on Friday night before traveling to MIT for matches against Tufts and Williams on Saturday inside Rockwell Cage.

SERIES HISTORY
vs. Middlebury
• The Beavers are 3-4 all-time against the Panthers in a series that dates back to 2015.
• Babson suffered a five-set loss to Middlebury last season (25-22, 21-25, 25-18, 15-25, 15-13) in Williamstown, Mass.
• The Green and White is 2-0 all-time against Middlebury inside Staake Gymnasium.

vs. Tufts
• The Green and White is just 2-18 all-time against the Jumbos in a series that dates back to 1980.
• The Beavers snapped a four-match losing streak against Tufts with a five-set (25-23, 26-28, 25-14, 27-29, 15-10) win on October 19, 2019, in Cambridge.

vs. Williams
• Babson is 3-6 all-time against the Ephs in a series that dates back to 2002.
• The Beavers have won back-to-back matches after recording a four-set victory (25-22, 23-25, 27-25, 25-16) last October in Williamstown, and the teams have split their last six meetings since 2015.

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• No. 23 Babson (18-2) is coming off a 3-2 win at Simmons on Tuesday night.
• Senior Martina Jankovic Chin recorded a career-high 15 kills and sophomore Tatum Stelter led three players in double figures with a career-best 24 digs for the Beavers, who overcame 21 service aces by the Sharks.
• First-year Isabella Allen is averaging a team-high 3.13 kills per set, junior Lauren Gips (2.73 k/s, .344 hitting pct.) is first on the squad with 47 total blocks, and senior Laura Zuloaga (2.33 k/s) is hitting a team-best .355 and has made just 20 errors on the year.
• Graduate student Izzy Seebold ranks seventh in Division III dishing out 10.44 assists per set, first-year Roz Cabuena leads the team in digs per set (4.67) and Stelter (3.12 d/s) has recorded 20 or more digs three times over the last five matches.

SCOUTING THE PANTHERS
• Middlebury (11-7) has won four consecutive matches and is coming off a 3-0 victory over Plymouth State on Tuesday.
• Katie Kraczkowsky had nine kills and four aces, Lexi Linafelter registered eight kills in 12 swings and Laney Sullivan added seven kills and three blocks for the Panthers, who hit .253 as a team in the win.
• Kraczkowsky is averaging a team-high 2.93 kills to go along with 2.41 digs per set, Linafelter (2.38 k/s) is hitting .271 and Sullivan is contributing 2.02 kills and 1.72 digs per game.
• Gabbie O'Toole is dishing out 8.82 assists per set and Kelly Ferrero ranks 41st in Division III averaging 5.25 digs per set.

SCOUTING THE JUMBOS
• No. 25 Tufts (13-4) has won seven of its last eight matches and is coming off a 3-2 win at Amherst last Saturday.
• Christine Audette finished with 13 kills and 17 digs and Jenelle Yarwood added 11 kills and 17 digs for the Jumbos, who recorded a season-high 93 digs in the match.
• Yarwood (3.02 k/s, 2.25 d/s) is hitting .282, Audette is contributing 2.43 kills and 2.66 digs per set, and Maya Lightfoot (2.25 k/s) is tied for second on the team with 35 total blocks.
• Maddie Yu and Zoe Gregory have combined to hand out 9.98 assists per set, while Stephanie Lee is averaging a team-high 4.07 digs per set.

SCOUTING THE EPHS
• Williams (9-6) has dropped two of its last three matches after suffering a 3-0 loss at Cortland last Saturday.
• Celia Adams hit .286 and recorded 10 kills, while Lauren Kauppila and Sidra Wohlwend finished with five digs apiece for the Ephs, who hit a season-low .030 in the loss.
• Marit Hoyem (2.74 k/s, 1.12 b/s) is hitting .337, Adams is averaging 2.73 kills and hitting .223, and Christina Conforti is contributing 2.29 kills and 2.48 digs per set.
• Kauppila and Guidotti have combined to dish out 9.93 assists per set, while Wohlwned is averaging a team-high 4.36 digs per set.

UP FOR THE CHALLENGE
• The Beavers are 8-9 all-time in the New England Challenge, which started in 2015.
• Babson won all three matches in 2019 and is 4-0 all-time in New England Challenge matches inside Staake Gymnasium with two victories apiece against Middlebury and Williams.
• In matches against Middlebury and Williams last season, Jankovic Chin, Zuloaga and senior Jordan Lapins combined to average 7.34 kills per set while hitting .238, while Stelter had 27 digs and averaged 3.00 digs per set.

COMING ON STRONG
• Over her last four matches, Jankovic Chin has totaled 43 kills and 10 blocks and is averaging 3.07 kills per set while hitting at a .376 clip.
• In addition to setting a new career high with 15 kills, she also recorded a season-high five blocks in Tuesday's win at Simmons.
• Jankovic Chin has made just 11 errors in six matches in the month of October and is hitting .404 during this stretch.

REGIONAL IMPACT
• Babson, MIT and Springfield all appeared in the first edition of the NCAA Region II rankings, while Tufts and Williams were among the teams listed in the initial region I rankings.
• The Beavers have gone 5-2 against teams that appeared in this week's regional rankings and have a chance to improve their NCAA Tournament resume with four of their last five contests coming against teams regionally-ranked foes.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
• The Beavers rank 19th in Division III in opponent hitting percentage (.098) and have gone 16-0 this year when its foes hit .150 or below.
• Babson has recorded more kills than its opponents in 20 of 21 matches this fall.
• In addition to being unbeaten at home (8-0), the Green and White is 11-2 in road and neutral court matches.
• The Beavers are 13-0 this season when hitting .200 or better.

UP NEXT
• Babson returns to Cambridge on Tuesday at 7 p.m. when it takes on fellow NEWMAC unbeaten MIT in a match that will decide the top seed in next month's conference tournament.

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