BABSON PARK, Mass.—Junior
Lauren Gips (Winter Park, Fla.) led all players with 12 kills and four blocks and Babson College hit .255 as a team on the way to sweeping visiting Simmons University (25-15, 25-18, 25-16) in non-conference women's volleyball action on Tuesday night inside Staake Gymnasium.
With its 15th straight win, Babson improves to 18-1 overall. Simmons, which had its six-match winning streak halted, is now 9-7 on the season.
Sophomore
Isabella Allen (Williamsville, N.Y.) recorded a season-high 10 kills, while senior
Lulu McShane (Glencoe, Ill.) and first-year
Hailey Fouche (Montclair, N.J.) both contributed seven kills and two blocks for the Beavers. First-year
Zoe Ackerman (Aurora, Colo.) dished out 30 assists to go along with nine digs and sophomore
Roz Cabuena (Kailua, Hawaii) led all players with 18 digs in the victory.
Senior Claire Conners (Albany, Calif.) had seven kills, first-year Hannah Pridgeon (Winter Garden, Fla.) added five kills and nine digs and graduate student Chelsea Simmons (Newton, Mass.) chipped in with four kills, nine digs and seven assists to pace the Sharks.
The Green and White led 8-6 in the opening set before pulling away thanks to an 8-1 run that included kills from three different players, service aces by Ackerman and sophomore
Sophia Shaw (Novato, Calif.) and a block by McShane and sophomore
Lilly Steiner (Hingham, Mass.). Senior
Olivia Leinenweber (Neptune Beach, Calif.) served up back-to-back aces to push the margin to 20-9 and Fouche combined on a block with Gips before putting away her first kill of the match to give the Beavers their largest lead of the stanza at 22-9.
Game two featured 11 ties and five lead changes with neither team leading by more than three until Babson scored seven consecutive points to end the frame. Allen started the run with a kill, Fouche followed up a bad set by the Sharks with a kill and Shaw served up an ace to make it 22-18. The hosts took advantage of back-to-back errors to get to set point where McShane put away a kill for a two-set lead.
The Beavers dominated the third set totaling 12 kills and hitting at a .303 clip to complete the sweep. They scored four straight points on the serve of Cabuena to begin the stanza and got back-to-back kills from Allen to extend their lead to 10-3. Simmons got as close as two but the Green and White answered with a 7-0 run that included a pair of aces by Cabuena and two blocks by Gips for its largest lead of the game at 19-10.
Babson returns to action on Saturday when it travels to Salve Regina at 1 p.m., while the Sharks host Saint Joseph's (Maine) on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
MATCH NOTES
• The Beavers are 22-7 all-time against Simmons and have won 12 of the last 13 matches between the teams.
• Babson is 12-0 this season and has won 43 of its last 47 matches going back to 2021 when hitting .200 or better.
• The Green and White has won 34 straight matches when taking the opening set.
• The Beavers have won their last nine matches at home and boast a .885 winning percentage (122-16) inside Staake Gymnasium under head coach
Eric Neely.
