Women's Volleyball 9/8/2022 12:00:00 AM

Weekend Preview: No. 23 Women's Volleyball Hosts Bates Friday, Travels to Johnson & Wales on Saturday

No. 23 Women's Volleyball vs. Bates
Friday, September 9 | 6 p.m.
Staake Gymnasium | Babson Park, Mass.

WHAT TO KNOW
• No. 23 Babson returns from the west coast to take on Bates in its home opener on Friday night before traveling to Providence, R.I., on Saturday for matches against RIT and Johnson & Wales.

SERIES HISTORY
vs. Bates
• Babson is 2-3 all-time against the Bobcats in a series that dates back to 1987.
• Prior to a 3-0 win by the Beavers last season inside Staake Gymnasium, the teams had not met since 1994.

vs. RIT
• The Beavers are 1-0 all-time versus the Tigers thanks to a four-set victory (25-21, 27-25, 22-25, 25-9) at the MIT Invitational in 2019.

vs. Johnson & Wales
• Babson is 2-7 all-time against the Wildcats in a series that dates back to 2002.
• The Beavers posted a three-set win (25-20, 28-26, 25-12) at Johnson & Wales last September.

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• No. 23 Babson (3-1) wrapped up play at the Pacific Coast Classic with a four-set victory over Pomona-Pitzer last Saturday.
• Junior Lulu McShane and first-year Isabella Allen both had 13 kills, Lauren Gips added 10 kills and seven blocks, and graduate student Izzy Seebold dished out 50 assists for the Beavers, who hit .255 in the win.
• Allen is averaging a team-high 2.93 kills per set and hitting .252, Gips (2.85 k/s, 1.38 b/s) boasts a .315 hitting percentage, and McShane is contributing 2.47 kills and hitting .228.
• Seebold ranks third in Division III in assists per set (11.64) and first-year Roz Cabuena is averaging a team-high 5.56 digs per set.

SCOUTING THE BOBCATS
• Bates (1-0) opened the season with a 3-1 victory over Husson on Tuesday.
• Alyssa Lowther hit .520 and recorded 15 kills, while Emma Eide finished with 28 assists, 11 digs and nine service aces in the win.
• Lowther averaged 2.58 kills per set and led the team with 50 total blocks in 2021, Eide dished out 6.51 assists per set, and Kate Hansen was second the squad in both total digs (218) and digs per set (2.79) last fall.
• Bates returns 10 players from a team that finished 7-16 overall and 2-8 in the NESCAC last season.

SCOUTING THE TIGERS
• RIT (2-1) has won two straight matches and rallied for a four-set victory over SUNY Oneonta last Saturday.
• Samantha Cox recorded 16 kills, Liv Benard added 14 kills and Sydney Neff finished with 45 assists and four aces for the Tigers, who hit .235 as a team.
• Benard (3.67 k/s) is hitting .240, Cox is averaging 2.58 kills per set and Calista Gasper is contributing 2.00 kills and hitting .500 through three matches.
• Neff is dishing out 9.83 assists per set, while Jessica Klein leads the team in total digs (39) and digs per set (3.25).

SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
• Johnson & Wales (0-2) wrapped up its opening weekend with a four-set loss to SUNY New Paltz last Saturday.
• Peyton Oliver led all players with 16 kills and Kyra Hissner finished with 25 assists and 18 digs for the Wildcats, who dropped the final three sets.
• Oliver (3.67 k/s) is hitting .375, sophomore Masina Tupea is averaging 3.00 kills and 2.50 digs per set, and junior Sarah Miller is contributing 2.63 kills and 3.63 digs per set over the first two matches.
• Hissner is handing out 9.11 assists to go along with 3.89 digs, while senior Emily Corbett leads the team in both total digs (36) and digs per set (4.00).

PACIFIC COAST PERFORMANCES
• Cabuena's 35 digs in the four-set win over Whittier last Saturday are the most by a Babson player since Abby Beecher '19 recorded 45 digs in a five-set NCAA Tournament win over Clarkson in 2017.
• Seebold finished one assist shy of her career high with 59 in last Friday's five-set comeback win over Cal Lutheran and also dished out 50 in the four-set triumph over Pomona-Pitzer.
• Allen (13), Gips (12), senior Laura Zuloaga (12), McShane (11) and junior Erin Gray (11) all recorded double-digit kills in the victory over Cal Lutheran. Since 2008, Babson had never had more than four players record double-digit kills in a match.
• The Beavers' 105 digs against Whittier are their most since finishing with 117 in a five-set win over Clarkson in the 2017 NCAA Tournament.
• Babson's five-set win over Cal Lutheran in the season opener last Friday was its first when dropping the first two sets since October 17, 2017, when it rallied to defeat Springfield.

MOVING ON UP
• After finishing with the second highest point total among teams not in the preseason top 25, the Green and White picked up 150 points to enter the poll at No. 23.
• Babson is ranked for the first time since the October 5 poll of last season when it was 22nd.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
• The Beavers enter Friday's home opener with a 106-14 record inside Staake Gymnasium going back to 2011.
• Babson is 2-0 this season and 53-3 dating back to 2019 when it wins the opening set.
• The Green and White is 3-0 this year and 50-4 since the start of 2019 when recording more service aces than its opponents.
• Going back to the start of the 2018 campaign, Babson is 62-2 when holding its foes to a hitting percentage of .150 or less.

UP NEXT
• The Beavers begin NEWMAC play when they travel to Wellesley on Tuesday for a 7 p.m. match.

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