Women's Volleyball 9/19/2022 12:00:00 AM

Match Preview: No. 23 Women's Volleyball vs. Springfield

No. 23 Women's Volleyball vs. Springfield
Tuesday, September 20 | 7 p.m.
Staake Gymnasium | Babson Park, Mass.

SERIES HISTORY
• Babson is 7-19 all-time against Springfield in a series that dates back to 1998.
• All of seven of the Beavers' wins in the all-time series have come since 2013, although they dropped a pair of matches to the Pride last season.
• The team taking the first set gone on to win the match in 10 of the last 11 contests between the teams.

LAST MEETING
• Camryn Bancroft had 19 kills, sophomore Natalie Billet added 15 kills and 18 digs, and classmate Jamie Albrecht totaled 12 kills, 18 digs and five blocks to help Springfield defeat the Beavers in five sets (25-15, 22-25, 24-26, 25-23, 15-8) in a NEWMAC Tournament semifinal on November 6, 2021.
• Allie Puccio '21 M'22 matched her career high with 25 kills and junior Caroline Applewhite handed out 50 assists to lead Babson.
• Maddie Malee '22 led all players with 29 digs for the Beavers, who were unable to overcome a 13-5 deficit in the decisive fifth set.

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• No. 23 Babson (8-1, 2-0 NEWMAC) stretched its winning streak to seven matches with a four-set (25-8, 26-28, 25-14, 25-19) victory at Coast Guard on Saturday.
• First-year Isabella Allen (15), junior Lauren Gips (13) and junior Erin Gray (12) combined for 40 kills while hitting .317 for the Beavers, who took advantage of a season-high 26 errors by the Bears.
• Allen (3.07 k/s, .243 hitting pct.) ranks fifth in the conference in kills per set, Gips is averaging 2.70 kills per set and ranks third in the NEWMAC in blocks per set (1.15) and fifth in hitting percentage (.364), and junior Lulu McShane has contributed 2.56 kills and is second on the team in total blocks (14).
• Graduate student Izzy Seebold is handing out a league-best 11.30 assists per set, while first-year Roz Cabuena is fifth in the NEWMAC averaging 4.64 digs per set.

SCOUTING THE PRIDE
• Springfield (7-1, 2-0 NEWMAC) stayed unbeaten in league play with a 3-0 sweep of Springfield last Saturday.
• Sophomore Riley Donahue hit .440 and finished with 15 kills, first-year Megan Kirtyan doled out 30 assists and graduate student Ally Townsend recorded a match-high 21 digs for the Pride, which hit .356 as a team.
• Donahue ranks first in the conference in kills per set (4.00) and is hitting .247, Billet is averaging 1.84 kills per set and junior Elsie Phillips is contributing 1.75 kills per set and leads the team with 22 total blocks.
• Kirtyan is dishing out 7.69 assists per set, while Townsend ranks 23rd in Division III averaging 5.60 digs per set.

ON THE ATTACK
• The Beavers currently have five players averaging better than 2.00 kills per set and are hitting .206 as team, which ranks third in the NEWMAC.
• Allen put away 22 kills and averaged 3.67 kills per set in wins over Wellesley and Coast Guard last week, Gray averaged 2.83 kills per set and the duo of Gips and McShane combined for 29 kills while hitting at a .490 clip.
• The Green and White has also had five different players record double-digit kills through its first nine matches.

BEAVER BITES
• Junior Olivia Leinenweber, who is tied for third on the team with 14 service aces, has recorded at least one ace in seven consecutive matches.
• Seebold has dished out 44 or more assists in four of the six matches she has played this fall.
• Cabuena has recorded 19 or more digs five times on the year, Lapins has finished with 12 or more digs three times, and Leinenweber and sophomore Tatum Stelter have both totaled 13 or more digs on two occasions through nine matches.

COMING HOME
• After playing eight of its first nine matches on the road, Tuesday's contest against Springfield kicks off a stretch that will see the Green and White play six of its next eight matches inside Staake Gymnasium.
• The Beavers are 107-14 at home under 12th-year head coach Eric Neely, which includes a 45-4 mark since 2018.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
• The Beavers, who rank 29th nationally in opponent hitting percentage (.090) are 7-0 this season and 52-1 since 2019 when their foes hit .150 or below.
• Babson is 6-0 on the year when recording 10 or more service aces.
• The Green and White is 20-2 over the last two seasons in the month of September with the losses coming last year at Springfield and at then-No. 2 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on September 2 of this year.
• The Beavers are 7-0 this season and 165-12 since 2014 when winning the first set.

UP NEXT
• Babson will host Mount Holyoke at 1:30 p.m. and UMass Dartmouth at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday.

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