WELLESLEY, Mass.—Nine different players recorded at least three kills, led by seven each from senior Lauren MacDonald (Westwood, Mass.) and first-year Isabella Allen (Williamsville, N.Y.), as 23rd-ranked Babson College defeated Wellesley College, 3-1, in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) women's volleyball opener for both schools Tuesday evening inside the Dorothy Towne Fieldhouse.

The Beavers won by scores of 25-18, 25-11, 22-25, and 25-17 to record their sixth victory in a row and improve to 7-1 overall and 1-0 in the NEWMAC while Wellesley drops to 3-4 overall and 0-1 in conference play.

MacDonald hit a team-high .545 to lead the Beavers. Sophomore Lauren Griffin (Los Altos, Calif.) and junior Erin Gray (Oakland, Calif.) added five kills apiece and juniors Lauren Gips (Orlando, Fla.) and Lulu McShane (Glencoe, Ill.) and senior Martina Jankovic Chin (Zapresic, Croatia) contributed four winners each. First-year Roz Cabuena (Kailua, Hawaii) finished with a team-high 19 digs, while graduate student setter Izzy Seebold (Concord, N.C.), a transfer from Wellesley, posted a team-best 19 assists in the win against her former teammates.

Junior Kate Salembier (Sierra Madre, Calif.), sophomore Jennifer Yu (Shanghai, China) and first-year Kennedy Mayo (Long Branch, N.J.) recorded six kills each to lead the Blue. Senior TylerBell Smith (Frisco, Texas) made a match-high five blocks, first-year Kaija Kunze-Hoeg (Eagan, Minn.) produced 15 digs and sophomore Mikayla Tansil (Warren, Mich.) was good for 24 set assists in the setback.

Babson jumped out to a quick 6-1 lead in the opening set, sparked by kills from Gray, MacDonald and McShane. Later a four-point rally, with two kills each from Gips and senior Jordan Lapins (Calgary, Alberta), pushed the Beaver advantage to 14-6. The teams traded points much of the rest of the set before the Green and White finished it off with a kill by MacDonald and a service ace by Seebold.

The Beavers used a 7-2 surge early in the second set, including two kills by Allen and a pair of aces by Gips, to pull ahead 9-4. Wellesley scored three points in a row to close the gap, but Babson won 10 of the next 11 points to stretch the margin to 19-8. Babson hit .381 as a team to claim the middle set while holding Wellesley to a -.074 attack percentage.

The Blue kept things close in the third set, with three lead changes early on and nine tie scores on the way to a 15-all deadlock. Wellesley took its first lead (16-15) since a 6-5 advantage, but Babson responded with four of the next five points to pull ahead, 19-17. The hosts would not go away, rallying with four straight points to regain the lead (21-19) before kills by Jankovic Chin and Gray for Babson evened the score at 21-all. After a timeout, Wellesley rattled off four of the next five points, capped by a kill and an ace by Smith, to close out the set.

After Wellesley took an early 8-5 lead in the fourth set, Babson came alive and ran off five straight points, including a pair of aces by sophomore Tatum Stelter (Glendale, Ariz.). The score was tied 12-12 when the Beavers took command with a 9-1 rally, keyed by a pair of aces by first-year Sophia Shaw (Novato, Calif.) and a kill by Allen, and the Blue never recovered.

Both teams play another NEWMAC match on Saturday at 1 p.m. as Babson travels to Coast Guard and Wellesley visits Springfield.

MATCH NOTES
• The Beavers have won eight of their last 10 matches against the Blue and are now 10-34 all-time against Wellesley in a series that dates back to 1980.
• Babson has won the opening set against Wellesley in 10 straight matches between the teams.
• After holding Wellesley to a .028 attack percentage, Babson is now 64-2 since the start of the 2018 campaign when its foes hit .150 or lower.
• The Beavers have opened NEWMAC play with a victory in 10 consecutive seasons going back to 2012.
• The Green and White are 30-3 in the month of September going back to 2018.