Women's Volleyball at the NYU Invitational
Friday, September 8 | vs. Amherst | 7 p.m.
Saturday, September 9 | vs. No. 11 NYU, 10 a.m. | vs. Stockton, 3 p.m. 
John A. Paulson Center | New York, N.Y. 

WHAT TO KNOW
•    Babson kicks off an eight-match road trip with a trio of contests in New York City this weekend. 
•    The Beavers will face Amherst on Friday night, which will be followed by matches against 11th-ranked NYU and Stockton (N.J.) on Saturday. 

SERIES HISTORY
vs. Amherst
•    The Beavers are 1-2 all-time against the Mammoths in a series that dates back to 2014. 
•    Babson swept Amherst in 2014 before suffering back-to-back losses to the Mammoths in 2015 and 2016. 

vs. NYU
•    Babson is 0-1 all-time against the Violets after suffering a four-set loss in New York City back in 2014.

vs. Stockton  
•    First meeting

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
•    Babson (2-0) opened the season with 3-0 sweeps of Framingham State and Dean last Friday. 
•    Senior Lulu Mcshane and junior Lauren Gips both had 10 kills and first-year Natalie Molendyk finished with 19 assists, 11 digs, five kills and three aces against Dean for the Beavers, who hit .451 as a team in the win. 
•    First-year Allison Molendyk (20), McShane (18), Gips (12) and senior Erin Gray (12) combined for 62 kills over the first two matches, while first-year Nora Whitehurst is tied for the team lead with four blocks. 
•    Natalie Molendyk totaled 21 assists and 16 digs, first-year Zoe Ackerman led all players with 24 assists and junior Tatum Stelter registered 14 digs in Babson's opening matches. 

SCOUTING THE MAMMOTHS
•    Amherst (1-0) opened the season with a hard-fought 3-2 win over Smith on Wednesday night. 
•    Charlotte Rasmussen put away 11 kills, Lizzie Papalia led all players with 31 digs and Carly Cooper added 20 assists and 10 digs for the Mammonths, who overcame 42 errors in the victory. 
•    Amherst returns 11 players from a team that finished 14-7 and advance to the NESCAC semifinals last fall. 
•    Junior Kinsey Cronin (1.97 kills/set, 0.89 blocks/set) hit .337 on the year, senior Carly Cooper dished out 6.88 assists per set to go along with 3.35 digs per set, and junior Lizzie Papalia ranked second in the conference in digs per set (5.03). 

SCOUTING THE VIOLETS
•    No. 11 NYU (3-1) defeated Montclair State, 3-0, on Tuesday night for its third consecutive victory. 
•    First-year Grace Nelson finished with 10 kills, senior Haley Holz and graduate student Camille Nazor added eight kills apiece and junior Dominque Drust and sophomore Ava Launsbach both handed out 16 assists for the Violets, who hit .404 on the night. 
•    Nelson is averaging 4.00 kills per set and hitting .321, Holz is contributing 3.62 kills while hitting at a .339 clip and Nazor (2.08 k/s, 0.69 b/s) leads the team with a .411 hitting percentage. 
•    Launsbach and Drust have combined to dish out 10.34 assists per set and junior Lindsey Hirano leads the squad in total digs (60) and digs per set (4.62). 

SCOUTING THE OSPREYS
•    Stockton (2-3) had its two-match winning streak snapped in a 3-0 loss at Muhlenberg on Wednesday night. 
•    First-year Nicole Palmer recorded nine kills and two blocks and senior Aubrey Rentzel added 11 digs and 10 assists for the Ospreys, who finished with a season-low 28 kills and hit just .106 in the loss. 
•    Palmer is averaging a team-high 3.14 kills per set, sophomore Kate Louer is contributing 2.30 kills per set and junior Teleyah Witherspoon (2.00 k/s, 1.00 b/s) is tied for the team lead in blocks. 
•    Sophomore Regan Mendick and Renzel have teamed up to dish out 9.67 assists per set, while McKenna Ritchie is averaging 3.90 digs per set. 

CITY OF OPPORTUNITY
•    Babson, which is making its first trip to New York City since 2014, will face challenges from three opponents who are among the best in their respective regions. 
•    NYU followed up a regional final appearance in 2021 by reaching the NCAA Tournament semifinals last fall, Amherst has won more than 70 percent of its matches over the last two seasons and Stockton is coming off a 20-win season and a second-place finish in the NJAC in 2022. 

POLL POSITION
•    After reaching its first conference tournament final since 2019 last November, Babson was picked to finish second behind defending champions MIT when the NEWMAC released its preseason coaches' poll last week. 
•    The Engineers totaled 119 points and the Beavers, who finished second in the regular season standings in 2022, totaled 105 points.
•    Additionally, the Green and White is receiving votes in the AVCA Division III poll for the second week in a row.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
•    The Beavers were 13-7 away from home last season and have won at least 12 combined road and neutral matches in every season going back to 2018.
•    Babson is 19-2 going back to the start of last season when recording more service aces than its opponents. 
•    The Beavers are 27-2 in the month of September dating back to 2021. 
•    The Green and White has won 21 consecutive matches when taking the opening set. 

UP NEXT 
•    The Beavers travel to Waltham, Mass., to take on Brandeis on Tuesday at 7 p.m.