Women's Volleyball at Simmons
Tuesday, September 17 | 7 p.m. 
Holmes Sports Center | Boston, Mass. 

SERIES HISTORY
•    Babson is 22-7 all-time against Simmons in a series that dates back to 1980. 
•    The Beavers have won five straight and 12 of the last 13 matches between the teams going back to 1999. 
•    Since suffering a three-set loss in 2017, the Green and White has been victorious in each of its last two road matches against the Sharks, which includes a five-set triumph in 2022. 

LAST MEETING
•    Senior Lauren Gips hit .500 and led all players with 12 kills and four blocks to help the Beavers defeat Simmons in three sets, 25-15, 25-18, 25-16, on October 10, 2023, in Babson Park. 
•    Junior Isabella Allen finished with 10 kills, sophomore Zoe Ackerman dished out 30 assists and junior Roz Cabuena contributed a match-high 18 digs for Babson, which hit .255 in the win. 
•    Claire Conners totaled seven kills, Hannah Pridgeon registered five kills and nine digs and Chelsea Simmons added four kills, seven assists and nine digs to lead the Sharks. 

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
•    Babson (6-1) has won back-to-back matches and is coming off a 3-0 victory over then-14th-ranked Wesleyan on September 7. 
•    Gips matched her career high with 18 kills, Allen added 11 kills and Ackerman doled out 32 assists for the Beavers, who held the Cardinals to their lowest hitting percentage since 2017. 
•    Gips (2.45 kills/set, 0.82 blocks/set) is hitting .368, Allen is averaging 2.38 kills while hitting .265 and senior Lauren Griffin is contributing 2.21 kills per game over the first seven matches. 
•    Ackerman is handing out 8.46 assists per set to go along with 2.17 digs per set and a team-high 21 service aces, while junior Sophia Shaw leads the Green and White in total digs (101) and digs per set (4.21). 

SCOUTING THE SHARKS
•    Simmons (2-6), which is coached by former Babson assistant Patrick Helmas, has won two of its last three matches after rallying for a 3-2 victory over Western Connecticut on Saturday. 
•    Pridgeon finished with 20 kills and 16 digs, Zoe Chatterton added 19 kills and 10 digs and April Beatty recorded eight kills, nine digs and 24 assists for the Sharks, who hit .270 over the final two sets. 
•    Chatterton (3.42 k/s, 1.74 d/s) is hitting .205, while Pridgeon is contributing 2.65 kills and 2.65 digs per set. 
•    April Beatty is averaging 4.90 assists, 1.03 kills and 2.19 digs, and Carolina Rodriguez leads the defense with 3.81 digs per set. 

BLOCK PARTY
•    After recording 21 total blocks over its first five matches, the Green and White recorded eight total blocks in its five-set win over UMass Dartmouth and a season-best nine in the victory over Wesleyan on September 7. 
•    First-year Angelina Holm registered a season-high six blocks against Wesleyan and had nine in the two matches, Gips and sophomore Hailey Fouche added seven apiece in the wins and Ackerman contributed five. 

CLIMBING THE CHARTS
•    Gips currently ranks first in program history with a .341 hitting percentage in 54 career matches. 
•    Senior Tatum Stelter is fifth all-time with 169 assists and needs nine to pass Brianna San Diego '15 for fourth place. 
•    Ackerman became just the sixth player in program history to surpass 1,000 career assists in the win over Wesleyan. 

PREYING ON THE SHARKS
•    Gips has 19 kills and is hitting .357, while Allen has put away 17 kills in two career matches against Simmons. 
•    Shaw is averaging 3.00 digs per set over the last two years and Stelter finished with 24 digs, just two off of her career high, in the 2022 victory over the Sharks. 

BEAVER BITES
•    Shaw's career-high 46 digs in the Beavers' five-set win over UMass Dartmouth on September 7 are the second highest total by a Division III player this season.
•     Ackerman has recorded at least 50 assists three times in her career with two of the matches coming against UMass Dartmouth. 

NUMBERS TO KNOW
•    Babson, which will play its first road match of the season at Simmons, went 14-7 away from home last year and has registered at least 12 road/neutral victories in six consecutive seasons going back to 2017.
•    The Beavers are 25-0 going back to the start of last year when holding their opponents to a hitting percentage of .150 or below. 
•    The Green and White is 5-0 this fall when hitting at least .200. 
•    Babson has recorded more service aces than its opponents in all seven of its matches. 

UP NEXT
•    The Beavers return home to face Endicott and Brandeis on Saturday beginning at 1 p.m.