NEW LONDON, Conn.—The trio of juniors Lauren Gips (Orlando, Fla.) and Erin Gray (Oakland, Calif.) and first-year Isabella Allen (Williamsville, N.Y.) combined for 40 kills to help 23rd-ranked Babson College defeat the Coast Guard Academy in four sets (25-8, 26-28, 25-14, 25-19) in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) women's volleyball action on Saturday afternoon inside Roland Hall.

With its seventh consecutive win, Babson improves to 8-1 overall and 2-0 in league play while Coast Guard drops to 9-2 overall and 0-1 in the NEWMAC.

Allen led all players with 15 kills, Gips hit .522 and had 13 kills and four blocks and Gray added 12 kills while hitting .375 for the Beavers. Graduate student Izzy Seebold (Concord, N.C.) handed out 44 assists and first-year Roz Cabuena (Kailua, Hawaii) and senior Jordan Lapins (Calgary, Alberta) finished with 19 and 12 digs, respectively. Additionally, junior Lulu McShane (Glencoe, Ill.) chipped in with eight kills and three blocks, while senior Lauren MacDonald (Westwood, Mass.) tied for match-high honors with six blocks in the victory.

Senior Noelle Tursky (Fort Myers, Fla.) recorded nine kills and seven assists, sophomore Kaela France (Calhan, Colo.) led all players with 20 digs and junior Elizabeth Atkinson (Brookline, N.H.) chipped in with three kills and six blocks to lead the Bears.

The Green and White rattled off eight straight points to begin the match and limited Coast Guard to just one kill in 30 attacks as part of a dominating first-set win. The Bears responded by building an early seven-point lead in game two and led 24-21 after a kill by first-year Allie Wildsmith (Bainbridge Island, Wash.) before the Beavers rallied.

McShane cut the deficit to two with a kill, MacDonald and Gray combined on a block and Gips served up one of her match-high five aces to pull even. Babson fought off two more set points with kills by Gray and MacDonald, but the hosts took advantage of a service error and used a kill by Atkinson to hold on for a 28-26 victory that evened the match at a set apiece.

Babson rebounded with a strong third-set performance that included 14 kills while taking advantage of six Coast Guard errors. The Green and White raced out to a 12-4 lead and never saw the margin get closer than five the rest of the way.

The fourth set featured seven ties and three lead changes before the Beavers closed out the match with a 10-4 run. Consecutive kills by Allen gave the visitors an 18-16 lead and MacDonald combined with Seebold and Allen on back-to-back blocks to stretch the margin to four.

The Bears responded with two straight points following a timeout, but Allen recorded a pair of kills and Gips contributed one of her own as Babson scored five of the final six points.

Both teams return to action on Tuesday at 7 p.m. as Babson hosts Springfield, while Coast Guard travels to Smith.

MATCH NOTES
• The Beavers are now 19-23 all-time against Coast Guard and have won 13 straight matches and 14 of the last 15 contests against the Bears going back to 2013.
• Babson is 31-3 in the month of September since 2018.
• The Beavers held Coast Guard to a .015 hitting percentage and have now won 52 of their last 53 matches when opponents hit .150 or worse.
• The Green and White finished with 11 service aces in Saturday's win and have now totaled at least 10 aces in six of its eight wins on the year.