Women's Volleyball vs. Smith
Tuesday, October 29 | 7 p.m.
Staake Gymnasium | Babson Park, Mass.

SERIES HISTORY
•    Babson is 16-23 all-time against Smith in a series that dates back to 1987. 
•    The Beavers have won eight of the last nine matches between the teams and 12 of their last 14 versus the Pioneers since 2008. 
•    The Green and White is 6-1 at home against Smith going back to 2008 although it suffered a four-set loss inside Staake Gymnasium exactly two years ago. 

LAST MEETING
•    Erin Gray '24 and junior Isabella Allen both recorded 11 kills, sophomore Natalie Molendyk added 10 kills and three blocks, and classmate Zoe Ackerman handed out 39 assists to help Babson defeat Smith in four sets, 25-19, 18-25, 25-15, 25-12, on October 24, 2023, in Northampton, Mass. 
•    Abby Hunt totaled 14 kills, Mia Etheridge added 13 kills and three aces, and Gabby Beckman led all players with 24 digs for the Pioneers, who hit just .157 in the loss. 
•    Junior Roz Cabuena contributed 21 digs and senior Tatum Stelter led all player with five aces for the Beavers, who finished the match with a .314 hitting percentage. 

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
•    Babson (22-3, 7-1 NEWMAC) has split its last four matches and is coming off a 3-0 sweep of Middlebury to conclude the New England Challenge on Saturday. 
•    Junior Lauren Gips recorded 16 kills, three aces and three blocks, while Ackerman handed out 33 assists to go along with nine digs and three aces for the Beavers, who fought off seven set points to win the opening stanza 33-31.
•    Gips (3.58 kills/set, 0.88 blocks/set) ranks third in Division III with a .427 hitting percentage and is second in the conference averaging 4.58 points per set, Allen (3.16 k/s) is 10th in the NEWMAC in kills while hitting a career-best .254 and sophomore Hailey Fouche is contributing 2.30 kills and 1.65 digs per set. 
•    Ackerman ranks second in the league in assists per set (10.23) and leads the Green and White with 55 service aces, while junior Sophia Shaw is sixth in the conference averaging 4.36 digs per set. 

SCOUTING THE PIONEERS
•    Smith (22-5, 7-1 NEWMAC) has won eight consecutive matches and is coming off a 3-0 sweep of Husson on Saturday afternoon. 
•    Ari Cross led all players with 13 kills, Etheridge hit .583 and recorded eight kills, and Ruby Woodward added 28 assists, four aces and four digs for the Pioneers, who finished with a .439 hitting percentage against the Eagles. 
•    Hunt ranks eighth in the NEWMAC in kills per set (3.34) and ninth in hitting percentage (.276), Etheridge is averaging 3.07 kills and 2.24 digs per set, and Abby Sweeney (2.87 k/s, 0.61 blocks/set) boasts a .303 hitting percentage. 
•    Miranda Oakes ranks fifth in the league in blocks per set (0.89), Taylor Gwynne is handing out 9.52 assists per set and Sarah Dakovich is contributing a team-high 3.22 digs per set. 

POSTSEASON IMPLICATIONS
•    Babson and Smith enter Tuesday's match trailing only unbeaten MIT (8-0) in a tie for second place at 7-1. 
•    Both teams play the Engineers next week and the winner of Tuesday's clash will remain in contention for a share of the regular season title and the top seed in the upcoming conference tournament, while the loser will likely need to win one of its final two matches to secure home-court advantage in the conference quarterfinals. 

ALL-TOURNAMENT TANDEM
•    Gips, who averaged 4.14 kills and 5.15 points per set while hitting .393 in the three matches, and Ackerman, who handed out 10.11 assists and contributed 2.22 digs per set, were named to the New England Challenge All-Tournament team. 
•    Ackerman recorded a season-high seven kills and three aces to go along with her 33 assists in the tournament finale against Middlebury, and Gips totaled 58 kills against just five errors in three matches. 

MOVING UP THE CHARTS
•    Gips is now seventh on the program's single-season list with 380.0 points and needs just three more kills to become the sixth individual to record 300 kills in a season. 
•    Ackerman is up to seventh on the Beavers' single-season chart with 880 assists and is tied for 16th with 55 service aces. 

VETERAN MILESTONES
•    Stelter, who is fourth in school history with 190 aces, passed Eric Yuan '04 for 10th place on the all-time list with 1,079 digs over the weekend. 
•    Ackerman ranks fifth in Babson history with 1,694 assists, while Gips ranks first in hitting percentage (.372), seventh in total blocks (228), ninth in points (923.0) and 10th in kills (695), and needs just five more kills to join Caitlin O'Neill '10, Lorraine Mackiewicz '17 and Kristin Carosotto '20 as the only players to surpass 700 kills, 200 blocks and 900 points. 
•    Allen became the 15th player to surpass 600 career kills in Saturday's win over Middlebury. 

STREAKING BEAVERS
•    Stelter has finished with 10 or more digs in four straight matches and is averaging 4.79 digs per set during this stretch.
•    Gips has recorded 10 or more kills in six consecutive outings. 
•    First-year Angelina Holm has totaled six kills in two straight matches. 
•    After totaling just six digs over her first nine appearances this fall, first-year Emma Watts has contributed at least four digs in three straight contests. 

NUMBERS TO KNOW
•    The Beavers are 15-1 this season and have won 27 of their last 28 matches at home going back the 2022 NEWMAC Tournament. 
•    Babson, which ranks 17th in Division III with a .247 hitting percentage, is 35-0 over the last two seasons when hitting .200 or better. 
•    The Green and White is 33-2 since the start of last year when recording more digs than its foes. 
•    The Beavers are 14-0 this fall when holding their opponents to a hitting percentage of .150 or below. 

NUMBERS TO KNOW
•    Babson travels to No. 4 MIT on Tuesday, November 5, at 6 p.m.