Women's Volleyball 9/26/2022 12:00:00 AM

Match Preview: No. 22 Women's Volleyball at WPI

No. 22 Women's Volleyball at WPI
Tuesday, September 27 | 7 p.m.
Harrington Auditorium | Worcester, Mass.

SERIES HISTORY
• Babson is 33-11 all-time against WPI in a series that dates back to 1977.
• The Beavers have won five straight matches in the series and 15 of their last 18 contests between the programs since 2004.
• Babson has been victorious in each of its last four trips to Harrington Auditorium and has lost just once to WPI (2011) in its last eight visits to Worcester.

LAST MEETING
• Senior Laura Zuloaga hit .545 and recorded seven kills, while junior Ruby Reich contributed 25 assists and eight digs to help the Beavers earn a three-set sweep over WPI (25-18, 25-15, 25-22) on September 28, 2021, in Babson Park.
• Maddie Malee '22 finished with 15 digs and 11 different players had at least one kill for Babson, which hit .214 over the first two sets.
• Amanda Wetmore had a match-high 13 kills and senior Catherine Reynolds chipped in with 23 assists and 16 digs for the Engineers.

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• No. 22 Babson (12-1, 4-0 NEWMAC) extended its winning streak to 11 with victories over Mount Holyoke and UMass Dartmouth on Saturday.
• The duo of Zuloaga and junior Lulu McShane combined for 32 kills while hitting at a .544 clip, and graduate student Izzy Seebold finished with 31 assists and five blocks against the Corsairs to help the Beavers stay unbeaten at home.
• First-year Isabella Allen ranks fifth in the conference in kills per set (3.14), junior Lauren Gips is averaging 2.74 kills per set and ranks fifth in the NEWMAC in both blocks per set (1.03) and hitting percentage (.349), and McShane is contributing 2.38 kills per set while hitting .286 on the year.
• Seebold is handing out a league-high 10.83 assists per set and first-year Roz Cabuena ranks fifth in the NEWMAC in both total digs (180) and digs per set (4.74).

SCOUTING THE ENGINEERS
• WPI (6-5, 0-4 NEWMAC) snapped a four-match losing streak with a 3-0 sweep of Colby-Sawyer on Saturday afternoon.
• First-year Audrey Stroupe recorded nine kills in 12 swings and Reynolds contributed nine kills, 14 assists, 11 digs and three service aces for the Engineers, who hit .240 as a team in the win.
• Junior Olivia Deckers is averaging a team-high 2.70 kills per set, senior Maddie Sanborn (2.44 k/s) is hitting .221 and graduate student Suela Miloshi is contributing 2.36 kills and 2.41 digs per set.
• Reynolds is dishing out 7.94 assists to go along with 3.03 digs per set, while junior Jia Yazon leads the squad in both digs per set (3.53) and service aces (15).

STREAKING BEAVERS
• Babson's current 12-match unbeaten streak ranks third in Division III behind only the last two undefeated teams in the country – No. 1 Claremont Mudd Scripps and No. 3 Northwestern-St. Paul – who are both 13-0 on the year.
• Going back to 2017, the Beavers have won at least eight matches in a row in five consecutive seasons.

AMONG THE LEAGUE LEADERS
• Through the first two weeks of NEWMAC play, Babson ranks first in services aces per set (2.56), second in kills (12.25) and points per set (16.31) and fourth in hitting percentage (.187).
• Gips ranks first in conference play with a .416 hitting percentage and is tied for first with 10 service aces, while Seebold is dishing out a league-bet 10.08 assists per game.

DIGGING IN
• The Green and White ranks 18th in Division III in opponent hitting percentage (.084) and is one of just three teams in the conference with at least four players averaging better than two digs per set in all matches.
• In addition to Cabuena's team-best 4.74 digs per set, senior Jordan Lapins is averaging 2.66 and sophomore Tatum Stelter and first-year Sophia Shaw are contributing 2.65 and 2.18 per set, respectively.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
• Babson is 5-1 this season and 32-9 in road matches dating back to 2017.
• The Beavers are unbeaten this fall (10-0) and have gone 168-12 since 2014 when winning the opening set.
• The Green and White has recorded more kills than its opponents in 70 of its last 75 matches since the start of 2019.
• Babson is 8-0 this season when serving up 10 or more aces.

UP NEXT
• The Beavers welcome Clark and Gordon to Staake Gymnasium for a tri-match on Saturday beginning at 11 a.m.

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