Women's Volleyball Opening Weekend Classic
vs. Husson | Friday, August 30 | 5 p.m.
vs. Bard | Friday, August 30 | 7 p.m.
vs. Maine-Presque Isle | Saturday, August 31 | 11 a.m.
vs. Colby-Sawyer | Saturday, August 31 | 4 p.m. 

WHAT TO KNOW
•    The Babson women's volleyball team begins the 2024 season with four matches over a 24-hour span inside Staake Gymnasium. 
•    The Beavers face Husson and Bard on Friday before taking on Maine-Presque Isle and Colby-Sawyer on Saturday. 

SERIES HISTORY
vs. Husson: Babson is 1-0 all-time against the Eagles thanks to a 3-0 sweep on September 12, 2014. 

vs. Bard: first meeting.

vs. Maine-Presque Isle: Babson is 2-0 all-time against the Owls, which includes a three-set sweep to open the 2019 campaign. 

vs. Colby-Sawyer: the Beavers are 13-6 all-time against the Chargers and have won the last six matches between the teams dating back to 2011. 

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
•    Babson returns 12 players from a team that went 25-7 and made its sixth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance last season. 
•    Sophomore Allis Molendyk averaged 3.03 kills per set and was hitting .241 before missing the second half of the 2023 campaign due to injury, senior Lauren Gips (2.46 k/s, 1.14 blocks/set) hit a career-best .361 on the way to earning All-NEWMAC honors, and junior Isabella Allen contributed 1.80 kills per set in 29 matches last fall. 
•    Sophomore Zoe Ackerman, an AVCA All-America honorable mention, dished out 7.14 assists per set, while the trio of all-conference junior Roz Cabuena (5.29 digs per set), senior Tatum Stelter (2.57 d/s) and junior Sophia Shaw (2.02 d/s) combined to average nearly 10 digs per set last fall. 

SCOUTING HUSSON
•    The Eagles return nine players from a team that finished 7-16 overall in 2023. 
•    Janna Preskorn, a second-team All-NAC selection, averaged a team-high 2.55 kills per set, 1.66 digs per set and led all players with 59 service aces, while Alexa Beal contributed 1.25 kills per set. 
•    Alyvia Peloquin dished out 5.05 assists to go along with 1.66 digs per set, Beatrice Tursi led the team in both digs (180) and digs per set (2.81), and Leah Peloquin chipped in with 1.91 digs per set on the year. 

SCOUTING BARD
•    The Raptors feature seven freshmen and return just four players from a team that went 11-20 in 2023. 
•    LaeAnna Riley was third on the team in both kills (1.30) and points per set (1.68) in addition to leading the squad with 26 total blocks, while Nyla Lawrence contributed 1.27 kills per set and was third with 23 total blocks. 
•    Ella Small averaged 2.24 digs per set, which was good for second on the team, and Becca Wintjen contributed 1.92 digs per set on the year. 

SCOUTING MAINE-PRESQUE ISLE
•    The Owls bring back seven players from a team that finished 10-17 last season. 
•    Alexis Engle was second on the team in both kills (1.49) and digs per set (2.86) to go along with 41 service aces. 
•    Kylee Blazick led the team in both total digs (250) and digs per set (3.05), while Brianna Bolhuis contributed 2.43 digs per set, which was third on the squad. 

SCOUTING COLBY-SAWYER
•    The Chargers return eight players from squad that ended the year with a 7-24 record in 2023. 
•    Ally Majenski led the team in both kills (2.41) and points per set (2.59), while Katie Mollberg (2.26 k/s, 2.549 p/s) hit a team-best .114 on the year. 
•    Brooke Patnode dished out 6.47 assists to go along with 2.49 digs per set, and Audra Fontes contributed a team-high 4.31 digs per set and 0.45 aces per set. 

POLL POSITION
•    Babson, which has made six consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament and nine straight NEWMAC Tournament semifinal appearances, was picked to finish third when the NEWMAC released its preseason poll last week. 
•    The Beavers, who were picked behind MIT and Springfield, have finished third or better in the league standings in 10 straight seasons back to 2013.

STARTING STRONG
•    The Beavers have opened the season with a win in eight consecutive seasons going back to 2015, a run that includes rallying from two sets down to edge Cal Lutheran to start the 2022 campaign. 
•    Babson, which swept Framingham State in the 2023 season opener, has won each of its last seven home openers since 2016. 

HOMECOURT HEROES
•    The Beavers went 11-0 last season inside Staake Gymnasium and are riding a 12-match home winning streak that dates back to November 2022. 
•    Since head coach Eric Neely arrived in 2011, the Green and White boasts a .887 winning percentage (126-26) over the last 14 seasons inside the friendly confines of Staake Gymnasium. 

RISING IN THE RECORD BOOKS
•    Stelter, who's 62 service aces last fall were the most by a Babson player since 2001, enters the season ranked sixth in program history with 155 aces and needs just four to pass Elizabeth Cameron '20 for fifth place. 
•    Ackerman ranks 10th in Babson history after dishing out 814 assists last year and needs just 186 to become the sixth player in program annals to reach 1,000 for her career. 
•    After hitting .361 in 21 matches last season, Gips enters the 2024 campaign ranked first on the program's career list with a .335 hitting percentage. 

NUMBERS TO KNOW
•    The Beavers are 28-0 over the last two seasons when winning the first two sets. 
•    Babson went 16-0 last fall and is 95-4 going back to 2018 when hitting .200 or better. 
•    The Green and White went 20-1 last fall when recording more service aces than its opponents.
•    The Beavers are 59-3 over the last three seasons when holding their foes to a hitting percentage of .150 or worse. 

UP NEXT
•    Babson will host Franklin & Marshall on September 6 and UMass Dartmouth and No. 14 Wesleyan on September 7 inside Staake Gymnasium.