Box Score BABSON PARK, Mass.—Seniors Erin Gray (Oakland, Calif.) and Lulu McShane (Glencoe, Ill.) each had three kills in the decisive fifth set as Babson College defeated visiting Wellesley College, 23-25, 25-19, 25-15, 23-25, 15-17, in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) women's volleyball action on Tuesday night inside Staake Gymnasium. 

With its ninth straight win, Babson is now 12-1 overall and 3-0 in league play. Wellesley had its eight-match winning streak snapped and drops to 8-3 overall and 2-1 in the NEWMAC. 

Gray set a new career high with 18 kills, first-year Allison Molendyk (Danville, Calif.) had 16 kills and a season-high 13 digs and junior Lauren Gips (Orlando, Fla.) added 12 kills for the Beavers. First-year Zoe Ackerman (Aurora, Colo.) dished out 50 assists to go along with 13 digs and junior Tatum Stelter (Glendale, Ariz.) registered a team-high 21 digs in the victory. 

First-year Kate Giang (Corte Madera, Calif.) tied for match-high honors with 18 kills, sophomore Kaija Kunze-Hoeg (Eagan, Minn.) led all players with 27 digs and first-year Madeline Zornek (Orlando, Fla.) finished with 23 assists and 12 digs to lead the Blue. 

Wellesley rallied from a 16-11 deficit in the first with a 9-1 run and then got a kill by senior Kate Salembier (Sierra Madre, Calif.) and took advantage of an error by the Green and White to pull out a 25-23 win for a one-set lead. The Beavers never trailed in game two and the quartet of Gips, Gray, McShane and Molendyk combined for 11 kills to even the match.  

Babson jumped out to a quick 6-2 lead in the third set and dominated the stanza putting away 14 kills and hitting .429 to go up 2-1 in the match. The Blue responded with a strong start to the fourth as Giang and first-year Caroline Meyer (Indianapolis, Ind.) combined for five straight points to make it 10-5. The Beavers pulled within two at 19-17 on an ace by Gips and got a kill from Gips to get as close as 23-22 before the visitors took advantage of a pair of service errors to force a fifth set. 

Wellesley took an early 4-2 lead on consecutive kills by Giang and the game was deadlocked at six before the Green and White closed the match by scoring nine of the final 10 points. Kills by Gray and McShane made it 9-6, Ackerman followed with an ace and sophomore Lilly Steiner (Hingham, Mass.) contributed a kill and a block to give the Beavers their largest lead of the frame at 14-6. 

Babson returns to action on Wednesday when it hosts Endicott at 7 p.m., while Wellesley takes on Smith on Friday at 7 p.m. 

MATCH NOTES
•    The Beavers have won nine of their last 11 matches against Wellesley, which includes seven consecutive wins at home in the series since 2014. 
•    Babson has won its first three NEWMAC matches in five sets for the first time in program history and is 6-2 over the last two seasons in five-set contests.
•    The Beavers have come back to win three times this season when dropping the opening set, which equals last year's win total. 
•    The Green and White is 48-4 in the month of September going back to 2019.