CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—Senior Lauren Gips (Winter Park, Fla.) and sophomore Zoe Ackerman (Aurora, Colo.) were named to the All-Tournament team as Babson College women's volleyball team wrapped up the New England Challenge by splitting a pair of three-set matches inside MIT's Rockwell Cage on Saturday afternoon. 

The Beavers suffered a 25-17, 26-24, 25-23 loss to Tufts University before bouncing back with a 33-31, 25-22, 25-22 victory over Middlebury College to earn their second win of the weekend. 

Babson, which has split its last four matches, is now 22-3 on the season. Tufts is 11-10 on the year, while Middlebury drops to 13-8 with its third consecutive loss. 

Babson 3, Middlebury 0
Gips led all players with 16 kills and added three blocks, while Ackerman contributed 33 assists, nine digs and a season-high seven kills to lead the Beavers. Junior Isabella Allen (Williamsville, N.Y.) recorded nine kills and sophomore Hailey Fouche (Montclair, N.J.) and senior Tatum Stelter (Glendale, Ariz.) finished with 15 and 14 digs, respectively. 

Sophomore Molly Harrison (Tiburon, Calif.) had 12 kills and 12 digs and classmate Gabby Pribisich (Cleveland, Ohio) and junior Ava Tuccio (Milford, Conn.) added eight kills apiece for the Panthers. Senior Gabbie O'Toole (Overland Park, Kan.) dished out 35 assists and was one of three players in double figures with 10 digs in the loss. 

The teams combined for 39 kills in a first set that featured eight ties and three lead changes. The Beavers twice led by as many as six early in the stanza before having to fight off seven Middlebury set points to pull out a 33-31 victory. First-year Angelina Holm (Denver, Colo.) tied it up at 31-all with a kill, Stelter followed with an ace and the Beavers closed it out thanks to a Panthers' attack error. 

The Green and White led for much of game two before Middlebury scored six consecutive points to go in front 19-18 on a kill by Pribisich. Two kills by Allen and back-to-back aces by Gips helped Babson regain a 23-21 advantage before closing things out thanks to two straight errors by the Panthers. 

The Beavers took their largest lead of game three at 19-13 before Middlebury rattled off nine of the next 11 points to their first lead of the stanza at 22-21 on a kill by Tuccio. Babson answered back with four straight points though, getting a kill from Fouche, two from Gips and another from first-year Emma Watts (Northport, N.Y.) on match point to finish off the win. 

Tufts 3, Babson 0
Fouche led all players with 11 kills, Gips hit .360 and recorded 10 kills and Allen produced eight kills for the Beavers. Ackerman handed out 32 assists, Stelter finished with 13 digs and Holm matched her season high with six kills over the final two sets in the loss. 

Sophomore Emma Heckman (San Diego, Calif.) put away a team-high eight kills and led all players with five blocks to lead a balanced attack that saw five players total at least four kills for the Jumbos. Graduate student Christine Audette (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) finished with six kills and nine digs, sophomore Akpevew Akpoigbe (Lake Zurich, Ill.) added six kills and four blocks and first-year Matsa Shi (La Jolla, Calif.) led all players with 15 digs in the win. 

Leading 15-13 in the first, Tufts took advantage of three Babson errors and used a service ace by senior Alina Qi (San Francisco, Calif.) to extend its advantage to 19-13. The Green and White pulled back within three thanks to back-to-back kills by Fouche, but the Jumbos answered with a 6-1 run to close out the stanza. 

The Beavers erased an early four-point deficit and got kills by senior Lauren Griffin (Los Altos Hills, Calif.), Allen and Holm as part of a 4-1 spurt to take their largest lead of game two at 21-18. Tufts responded with five of the next six points to regain a 23-22 lead on a block by Heckman and Akpoigbe before Fouche and Holm put away back-to-back kills to put Babson back in front 24-23. The Jumbos took advantage of two straight errors to take a one-point lead and Castor served up an ace following a timeout for a two-set advantage. 

The Green and White trailed by as many as five early in the third before fighting back to pull even three times late in the stanza. Griffin followed up an ace by Stelter to make it 22-22 but Heckman responded with a kill and then combined on a block with Akpoigbe for a two-point lead. Gips cut the Babson deficit to one before Akpoigbe closed things out with a kill at match point. 

Babson returns to action Tuesday when its hosts Smith at 7 p.m. 

TOURNAMENT NOTES
•    The Beavers have split their last two matches against Tufts and snapped a three-match losing streak to improve to 4-6 all-time against Middlebury. 
•    Gips is now sixth on the program's single-season list with 380.0 points in 25 matches this fall. 
•    Babson is 11-15 all-time in the New England Challenge, which dates back to 2015. 
•    After recording just 12 service aces over their three previous matches, the Beavers recorded 15 in the win over Middlebury.