No. 23 Women's Volleyball at Coast Guard
Saturday, September 17 | 1 p.m.
Roland Hall | New London, Conn.
SERIES HISTORY
• Babson is 18-23 all-time against Coast Guard in a series that dates back to 1981.
• The Beavers have won 12 straight and 13 of the last 14 matches against the Bears going back to 2013.
• Saturday's match marks Babson's first trip to Coast Guard since 2018 and will be just the third match between the programs played in New London, Conn., since 2015.
LAST MEETING
• Allie Puccio '21 M'22 led players with 11 kills and senior Lauren MacDonald finished with seven kills and six blocks to help the Beavers defeat Coast Guard in four sets (27-25, 23-25, 25-12, 25-20) on September 18, 2021, in Babson Park.
• Senior Jordan Lapins added nine kills, junior Caroline Applewhite dished out 29 assists and Jacalyn Pell '22 and Maddie Malee '22 finished with 16 and 15 digs, respectively, for the Beavers.
• Senior Bella Fleeger registered 10 kills and classmate Noelle Tursky contributed 21 assists, 14 digs, four kill and three blocks to lead the Bears.
SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• No. 23 Babson (7-1, 1-0 NEWMAC) has won six consecutive matches and is coming off a 3-1 victory at Wellesley in its conference opener on Tuesday.
• MacDonald and first-year Isabella Allen both recorded seven kills, sophomore Tatum Stelter led all players with four service aces and first-year Roz Cabuena finished with 19 digs for the Beavers, who hit .288 over the first two sets.
• Allen is averaging a team-high 2.96 kills per set, junior Lulu McShane (2.67 k/s) is hitting .276 and classmate Lauren Gips is contributing 2.56 kills per set while hitting .327 and ranks second in the league in blocks per set (1.19).
• Graduate student Izzy Seebold is dishing out a conference-best 11.38 assists per set, while Cabuena ranks third in the NEWMAC in digs (134) and fourth in digs per set (4.62).
SCOUTING THE BEARS
• Coast Guard (9-1, 0-0 NEWMAC) extended its winning streak to four with a three-set sweep of Trinity on Thursday night.
• Sophomore Shannon Shaw hit .364 and led all players with 12 kills, first-year Allie Wildsmith added eight kills and three blocks, and Tursky finished with 20 assists, seven kills, six digs and two blocks for the Bears, who have won 12 of their last 13 matches at home.
• Shaw (2.71 k/s, 2.74 d/s) is hitting .258, Wildsmith (1.94 k/s, 1.00 b/s) boasts a .290 hitting percentage and is second in the league in total blocks, and junior Elizabeth Atkinson leads the NEWMAC in blocks per set (1.21).
• Tursky is contributing 4.88 assists, 2.38 digs and 1.91 digs, junior Maeve Duffin is dishing out 5.00 assists per set and sophomore Kaela France is averaging a team-high 3.74 digs per set.
ATTACKING OPTIONS
• Babson enters league play with Allen (2.96), McShane (2.67), Gips (2.56), Zuloaga (2.33) and MacDonald (2.31) all averaging better than two kills per set on the year.
• MacDonald is hitting a blistering .508 on the year with 37 kills and just five errors, Allen leads the Green and White with 68 kills, and both Zuloaga (.371) and Gips (.327) rank among the top seven in the NEWMAC in hitting percentage.
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 42-8 in regular season and tournament play against NEWMAC opponents dating back to 2017.
• The Beavers have opened NEWMAC play with back-to-back victories in seven consecutive seasons going back to 2014.
NUMBERS TO KNOW
• Babson is 30-3 in the month of September dating back to 2018.
• The Beavers, who recorded a season-high 15 aces in Tuesday's win at Wellesley, have totaled 10 or more aces in five of their seven victories on the year.
• The Green and White is 57-3 going back to the start of 2019 when winning the first set.
• The Beavers have won 51 of 52 matches since 2019 when their opponents finish with a hitting percentage of .150 or lower.
UP NEXT
• Babson hosts Springfield on Tuesday at 7 p.m. inside Staake Gymnasium.
