Women's Volleyball at No. 4 MIT
Tuesday, November 5 | 6 p.m. 
Rockwell Cage | Cambridge, Mass. 

SERIES HISTORY
•    Babson is 9-39 all-time against MIT in a series that dates back to 1982. 
•    The teams have split their last eight matches going back to 2018
•    Nine of the last 10 matches between the teams have been decided in either four or five sets since 2017. 
•    The Beavers have dropped back-to-back matches against the Engineers on the road and are looking for their first win inside Rockwell Cage since the 2018 NEWMAC semifinals. 

LAST MEETING
•    Lauren Keller led all players with 17 kills, Consecrata Rozario added 16 kills and three blocks and the duo combined to hit .457 as MIT defeated Babson in four sets, 25-16, 16-25, 25-15, 25-14, in a NEWMAC Tournament semifinal on November 11, 2023, in Springfield, Mass. 
•    Emily Cheng handed out 43 assists to go along with 18 digs and Ella Gragg contributed six kills and four service aces for the Engineers, who finished with a .257 hitting percentage in the win. 
•    Junior Isabella Allen recorded 11 kills, senior Lauren Gips added seven kills and a match-high five, and junior Roz Cabuena led all players with 27 digs for the Beavers. 

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
•    Babson (22-4, 7-2 NEWMAC) is looking to rebound from a 3-1 loss to Smith last Tuesday inside Staake Gymnasium. 
•    Gips registered 11 kills and five blocks, Allen and sophomore Hailey Fouche recorded eight kills apiece, and classmate Zoe Ackerman had 26 assists, nine digs and six aces for the Beavers, who hit a season-worst .128 in the loss. 
•    Gips (3.54 kills/set, 0.90 blocks/set) ranks second in the NEWMAC and fourth in Division III with a .420 hitting percentage, Allen is averaging 3.10 kills per set while hitting a career-best .248, and Fouche is contributing 2.29 kills per set and is second on the team with 48 total blocks. 
•    Ackerman is second in the conference in both assists per set (10.07) and service aces (61), while junior Sophia Shaw ranks sixth in the league averaging 4.36 digs per set. 

SCOUTING THE ENGINEERS
•    No. 4 MIT (26-0, 9-0 NEWMAC), which owns the nation's second longest winning streak, is coming off a 3-0 sweep of Wesleyan last Thursday. 
•    Gragg led a balanced attack with 11 kills, Elise Echarte contributed nine kills and four blocks and Eileen Sadati chipped in with eight kills and two blocks for the Engineers, who hit .239 in the victory. 
•    Gragg (2.88 k/s, 2.34 digs/set) is hitting .229, Julia Tolstova is averaging 2.86 kills per set while hitting .241 and Rozario (2.56 k/s, 0.90 b/s) leads Division III with a .425 hitting percentage and ranks fourth in the league in blocks. 
•    Kayleigh May is handing out a league-best 10.22 assists per set and is second on the team with 41 service aces, Personeni is averaging 4.07 digs per set. 

CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT IMPLICATIONS
•    After dropping its second consecutive conference match last Tuesday against Smith, the Beavers enter the final week of the regular season tied for third place with Springfield, which they host on Saturday, at 7-2. 
•    Babson can clinch home-court for next Tuesday's with a win over MIT or Springfield can still earn in next week's NEWMAC Tournament with a pair of wins and two losses by Smith. 
•    The Engineers (9-0) and Pioneers (8-1) meet on Saturday in a match that could decide the top seed in the conference championship. 

CHARGING UP THE SINGLE-SEASON LISTS
•    Gips enters Tuesday's match tied for 13th place on the Beavers' single-season list with 308 kills this and needs just four to break into the top 10. 
•    Gips also is just 6.5 points shy of joining Meg Flaherty '12, Mary Donahue '16 and Allie Puccio '21 M'22 as the only players in program history to reach 400 points in a season. 
•    Ackerman, who is aiming to become the first setter in program history to average 10 or more assists per set in a season, surpassed 900 assists last Tuesday joining Kathleen Lynch '13 and Elizabeth Cameron '20 the only players to achieve this feat. 

BEAVER BITES
•    Senior Tatum Stelter passed Karla Flores '14 for ninth place on the program's all-time list with 1,099 career digs, while Gips passed Carlen Palau '08 for ninth on the career kills list with 706 last Tuesday against Smith. 
•    Allen has recorded eight or more kills in seven consecutive matches going back to October 15. 
•    Stelter has 87 digs over the last five matches and is averaging 4.83 digs per set during this stretch. 
•    Ackerman has served up multiple aces in nine of the last 11 matches going back to October 5. 
•    Gips has finished with 10 or more kills in 17 of the Beavers' last 18 outings going back to September 21.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
•    Babson is 19-0 this season when hitting at least .200 and 19-1 when it records more kills than its opponents. 
•    The Beavers are 17-2 this fall and 39-4 over the last two years when winning the first set. 
•    The Green and White is 14-1 on the year when finishing with more digs than its foes. 
•    Babson is 18-2 when holding its opponents to a hitting percentage below .200 this year. 

UP NEXT
•    Babson will conclude its regular season on Saturday when it hosts Springfield at 4 p.m. inside Staake Gymnasium.