BABSON PARK, Mass.—Babson College finished the day with a .385 hitting percentage on the way to sweeping visiting Framingham State University and Dean College to open the season on Friday afternoon inside Staake Gymnasium. 

The Beavers cruised past Framingham State (1-1) 25-8, 25-13, 25-22 in their first match and followed it up with a 25-7, 25-16, 25-10 victory over Dean (0-2). 

Babson 3, Framingham State 0
First-year Allison Molendyk (Danville, Calif.) led all players with 15 kills, senior Lulu McShane (Glencoe, Ill.) added eight kills and four blocks and classmate Erin Gray (San Francisco, Calif.) put away six kills to lead the Beavers. Senior Caroline Applewhite (Boca Raton, Fla.) and first-year Zoe Ackerman (Aurora, Colo.) combined for 30 assists, fellow rookie Nora Whitehurst (Decatur, Ga.) had four blocks and junior Tatum Stelter (Glendale, Ariz.) registered a team-high eight digs in the win. 

The Green and White scored five straight points on the serve of junior Lauren Gips (Orlando, Fla.) to build an early 6-1 lead and got four late kills from Molendyk as part of a closing 9-2 run for a one-set advantage. Leading by just one early in the second, first-year Natalie Molendyk (Danville, Calif.) served up three aces and added a kill as part of an 8-1 run that gave Babson a commanding 19-11 edge on the way to going up 2-0. 

Game three featured five ties and three lead changes before the Beavers seized control late. Consecutive kills by McShane and Allison Molendyk cut the deficit to 15-14, sophomore Sophia Shaw (Novato, Calif.) contributed a pair of aces and Whitehurst chipped in with an ace and a kill as part of a 10-2 run that put the hosts in front for good at 22-17. 

Babson 3, Dean 0
McShane and Gips both recorded 10 kills while combining to hit .679 in the Beavers' rout of Dean. Gray and Allison Molendyk chipped in with six and five kills, respectively, while Natalie Molendyk finished with 19 assists, 11 digs, five kills and three service aces in the victory. 

Babson totaled 16 kills and hit .577 en route to a dominating first-set victory. Gips and Allison Molendyk each had two early kills to help the Green and White jump out to a 7-1 lead in the second, and back-to-back kills by Whitehurst and an ace by senior Olivia Leinenweber (Neptune Beach, Calif.) capped a 6-1 spurt to extend the lead back to 20-13 after the Bulldogs had closed within two. 

McShane registered four consecutive kills early in the third and the Beavers scored six straight points on Leinenweber's serve as part of an opening 17-5 run. Dean was unable to cut its deficit to single digits the rest of the way. 

Babson returns to action next Friday when it faces Amherst at 7 p.m. to open play at the NYU Invitational. 

MATCH NOTES
•    The Beavers are now 26-4 all-time against Framingham State and 1-0 versus Dean. 
•    Babson has won its season opener in eight consecutive seasons going back to 2015 and has now won seven straight home openers since 2016.
•    The Green and White is 65-7 inside Staake Gymnasium since th start of 2017.
•    The Beavers are 17-1 since the start of last year when hitting at least .200.