Women's Volleyball at Emerson
Tuesday, September 19 | 6 p.m.
Brown & Plofker Gym | Boston, Mass. 

SERIES HISTORY
•    Babson is 11-3 all-time against Emerson in a series that dates back to 2009.
•    The Beavers have won eight of their last nine matches against the Lions, which includes three straight victories going back to the 2019 NEWMAC Tournament. 
•    The Green and White is 4-3 all-time versus Emerson in Boston and two of the last five matches between the teams in Brown & Plofker Gym have been decided in five sets. 
 
LAST MEETING
•    Sophomore Isabella Allen led three players in double figures with 16 kills and Izzy Seebold M'23 finished with 46 assists and 13 digs to help the Beavers rally for a four-set victory (22-25, 25-17, 25-23, 25-19) over Emerson on October 4, 2022, in Babson Park. 
•    Junior Lauren Gips contributed 12 kills and three blocks and junior Tatum Stelter led four players in double figures with a team-high 20 digs for Babson, which hit .242 over the final three sets. 
•    Junior Parker Cummings had 10 kills and senior Caroline Davis led all players with 24 digs for the Lions, who finished with a .131 hitting percentage in the loss. 

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
•    Babson (8-1, 0-0 NEWMAC) has won five straight matches and is coming off a 3-2 come-from-behind victory over UMass Dartmouth on Saturday. 
•    First-year Allison Molendyk put away a season-high 24 kills, senior Lulu McShane contributed a season-high 18 kills and first-year Zoe Ackerman finished with 56 assists and 10 digs for the Beavers, who trailed 11-8 in the decisive fifth set. 
•    Molendyk (3.39 kills/set) is hitting .247, senior Erin Gray is averaging 2.96 kills per set to go along with a .236 hitting percentage and McShane (2.72 k/s) is hitting at a .320 clip, which ranks seventh in the conference. 
•    Ackerman is dishing out 9.21 assists per set over the last four matches, sophomore Roz Cabuena is averaging a team-high 3.76 digs per set and Stelter leads the Green and White in both digs (81) and service aces (19). 

SCOUTING THE LIONS
•    Emerson (7-2, 0-0 NEWMAC) has split its last four matches and is coming off a 3-1 loss at No. 11 NYU on Saturday. 
•    Junior Amelia Combs recorded 12 kills, 13 digs and four aces, while Cummings contributed 11 kills and three blocks for the Lions, who hit a season-low .169 while making a season-high 13 receiving errors. 
•    Combs ranks fourth in the league averaging 3.48 kills per set to go along with 2.36 digs per set, junior Brooke Maynez (2.66 k/s) is hitting .290 and Cummings is contributing 2.36 kills. 
•    First-years Mia Rodriguez and Shannon Clark have combined to hand out 10.08 assists per set, while Davis ranks fourth in the conference averaging 4.58 digs per set. 

CONFERENCE COACHES MAKE THEIR PICKS
•    Coming off last year's second-place finish in the regular season standings and a trip to the NEWMAC Tournament final, Babson was picked to come in second in the preseason coaches' poll back in August. 
•    The Beavers have claimed at least a share of three regular season titles (2014, 2019, 2021) and boast nine consecutive top-three finishes in the league standings going back to 2013.
•    Emerson, which was one of three programs to earn a first-place vote, was picked to finish fifth in the poll. 

MOLENDYK EARNS CONFERENCE HONOR
•    After totaling 59 kills and averaging 4.21 kills per set while hitting .323 in a 4-0 week for the Beavers, Molendyk was tabbed as the NEWMAC Offensive Player of the Week on Monday. 
•    In addition to her season-high 24 kills in the five-set win over UMass Dartmouth, she had 12 in a three-set sweep of Roger Williams on Friday and 16 in a 3-0 win over UMass Boston in Saturday's first match. 

PILING UP THE POINTS
•    Entering the week, the Green and White ranks 23rd in Division III in kills per set (13.00) and 25th nationally averaging 3.17 service aces per game. 
•    Additionally, the Beavers have raised their hitting percentage to .225, which is good for fourth among NEWMAC squads and 41st in Division III. 

BEAVER BITES
•    Four players recorded at least 10 digs in Saturday's five-set win over UMass Dartmouth, led by a career-high 23 from sophomore Sophia Shaw and 19 from Stelter. 
•    Gray has finished with at least seven kills in each of Babson's last seven matches and both her and McShane have totaled six or more kills in all nine contests this season.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
•    The Beavers are 30-6 in all matches against NEWMAC foes going back to 2019. 
•    Babson is 6-1 this season away from home with five three-set victories. 
•    The Green and White is 5-0 this fall and has won 40 of its 44 matches going back to 2021 when hitting .200 or better. 
•    The Beavers are 26-0 over the last two seasons when winning the first set. 

UP NEXT
•    Babson returns home for the first time since September 1 on Saturday when it hosts Coast Guard and Colby beginning at 11 a.m.