No. 23 Women's Volleyball at Wellesley
Tuesday, September 13 | 7 p.m.
Dorothy Towne Fieldhouse | Wellesley, Mass.
SERIES HISTORY
• Babson is 9-34 all-time against Wellesley in a series that dates back to 1980.
• The Beavers have won seven of their last nine matches against the Blue with both losses coming in five sets.
• Tuesday's match will be the first for Babson at Dorothy Towne Fieldhouse since 2018 and just its second trip across town since 2015.
LAST MEETING
• Junior Lulu McShane recorded a team-high eight kills while hitting at a .400 clip, while Allie Puccio '21 M'22 and senior Martina Jankovic Chin added seven kills apiece in the Beavers' three-set (25-20, 25-21, 25-16) win over Wellesley on September 14, 2021, inside Staake Gymnasium.
• Seniors Jordan Lapins and Laura Zuloaga contributed six kills apiece and Maddie Malee '22 finished with 11 digs for Babson, which hit .269 as a team.
• Nicole Doerges led all players with 11 kills and current Babson graduate student Izzy Seebold handed out a match-high 26 assists in the loss for the Blue.
SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• Babson (6-1, 0-0 NEWMAC) extended its winning streak to five with a 3-0 victory over Johnson & Wales in the second of two matches on Saturday.
• Zuloaga, first-year Isabelle Allen and senior Lauren MacDonald combined for 20 kills while hitting .354 for the Beavers, who got 28 assists from junior Ruby Reich.
• Allen (2.90 k/s) is hitting .277, junior Lauren Gips is averaging 2.85 kills and 1.38 blocks per set to go along with a .315 hitting percentage, and McShane is contributing 2.74 kills per set and ranks second on the team with 10 total blocks.
• Seebold, who has missed the last three matches, is dishing out 11.64 assists per set, while first-year Roz Cabuena is averaging a team-high 4.60 digs per set.
SCOUTING THE BLUE
• Wellesley (3-3, 0-0 NEWMAC) has alternated wins and losses over its first six matches and is coming off a three-set victory over Castleton on Saturday.
• Junior Kate Salembier finished with 12 kills and 14 digs, sophomore Mikayla Tansil dished out 37 assists and first-year Kaija Kunze-Hoeg led all players with 28 digs for the Blue, which recorded a season-high 15 aces in the win.
• Salembier is averaging 2.65 kills and 2.70 digs per set, sophomore Jennifer Yu is contributing 2.30 kills and 2.40 digs, and senior TylerBell Smith (1.89 k/s) boasts a team-best .267 hitting percentage.
• Tainsil is averaging 8.55 assists per set, while Kunze-Hoeg leads the squad in both total digs (88) and digs per set (4.40).
ATTACKING OPTIONS
• Babson enters league play with Allen (2.90), Gips (2.85), McShane (2.74), Zuloaga (2.44) and MacDonald (2.14) all averaging better than two kills per set on the year.
• MacDonald is hitting a blistering .500 on the year with 30 kills and just four errors, Allen leads the Green and White with 61 kills, and both Zuloaga (.367) and Gips (.315) rank in the top 11 in the NEWMAC in hitting percentage among players with at least 50 attempts.
NEWMAC NUGGETS
• The Beavers, who were picked to finish second when the league released its preseason coaches' poll back in August, are looking to become the first program since MIT (2014-17) to win a share of three consecutive NEWMAC regular season titles in 2022.
• Babson finished 9-1 versus conference foes in both 2019 and 2021 and is 41-8 in regular season and tournament play against NEWMAC opponents dating back to 2017.
• The Beavers have opened NEWMAC play with a victory in nine consecutive seasons going back to 2012.
NUMBERS TO KNOW
• Babson has won the opening set against Wellesley in nine straight matches between the teams.
• The Beavers are 3-0 this fall and 67-2 going back to 2018 when hitting .200 or better.
• The Green and White is 29-3 in the month of September going back to 2018.
UP NEXT
• Babson travels to Coast Guard on Saturday at 1 p.m.
