ITHACA, N.Y.—Senior Jamie Koopman (Tampa, Fla.) led all players with 11 kills and junior Payton Miller (Petoskey, Mich.) served up a match-high seven aces to help No. 21 Ithaca College defeat visiting Babson College in three sets, 25-20, 26-24, 25-12, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday night inside Ben Light Gymnasium. 

Babson, which advanced to the second round for the eighth time in as many as NCAA Tournament appearances, closes the season at 25-7. Ithaca improves to 27-4 and will take on sixth-ranked NYU in Saturday's regional final. 

Senior Lulu McShane (Glencoe, Ill.) produced eight kills and two blocks, junior Lauren Gips (Winter Park, Fla.) had seven kills and two blocks and first-year Zoe Ackerman (Aurora, Colo.) handed out 15 assists to lead the Beavers. Junior Tatum Stelter (Glendale, Ariz.) recorded team-highs of seven digs and four service aces in the loss. 

Koopman hit a blistering .563 in the match, first-year Naomi Clauhs (Collegeville, Pa.) added eight kills and sophomore Ella Graper (Madison, Wis.) finished with six kills in seven swings for a .857 hitting percentage in addition to leading all players with four blocks to pace the Bombers. Fellow sophomore Maddie Cox (Apex, N.C.) handed out 33 assists and senior Julia Costa (Ossining, N.Y.) registered a match-high nine digs in the win. 

The Green and White rallied from an early five-point hole to go in front 10-9 only to see Ithaca respond with five straight points to regain a 14-10 advantage on a block by Graper.  The Beavers got as close as two on four occasions, the last coming at 21-19 before the hosts took advantage of a pair of errors and a block by junior Faith Sabatier (The Woodlands, Texas) to close out the opening set. 

Game two featured 15 ties and five lead changes with neither team leading by more than three. Babson matched its largest advantage of the stanza at 9-6 on an ace by Ackerman before the Bombers used kills by Sabatier and Graper and an ace by junior Ellie Benedict (Webster, N.Y.) to go in front 20-17. Babson answered with four straight points to go back in front 21-20 on an ace by Stelter and twice got within a point of winning the set only to see the Bombers rally from a 26-25 deficit with three straight points to grab a commanding 2-0 lead. 

After two hard-fought games, Ithaca rolled in the third tallying 13 kills and hitting .478 to close out the match. Miller recorded three aces during an early 5-0 run that pushed the margin to 10-3 and the Beavers never got closer than five the rest of the way as the hosts scored the final six points of the contest. 

MATCH NOTES
•    Babson is now 0-3 all-time against Ithaca with two of the losses coming in the NCAA Tournament. 
•    Senior Erin Gray (Oakland, Calif.) recorded four kills on Friday and her 311 this fall are tied for 10th on the program's single-season list.
•    Gips finished the year with 84 blocks and Stelter with 62 service aces, both of which are good for eighth place on their respective single-season charts. 
•    Friday's result marked the first time the Beavers have been swept in an NCAA Tournament match since the 2018 national quarterfinals against Wisconsin-Eau Claire.