BABSON PARK, Mass.—Senior Lauren Gips (Winter Park, Fla.) led all players with 12 kills and three blocks and junior Isabella Allen added 10 kills to help Babson College to a three-set sweep (25-20, 25-19, 25-20) of visiting Emerson College in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) women's volleyball action on Tuesday night inside Staake Gymnasium. 

With its sixth consecutive victory, Babson improves to 10-1 overall and starts league play at 1-0. Emerson has dropped three of its last four matches to fall to 6-7 overall and 0-1 in the NEWMAC. 

Gips hit .500, senior Lauren Griffin (Los Altos Hills, Calif.) contributed nine kills and sophomore Zoe Ackerman (Aurora, Colo.) finished with 32 assists, nine digs and two blocks to lead the Beavers. Junior Sophia Shaw (Novato, Calif.) tied for match-high honors with 13 digs, while sophomore Hailey Fouche (Montclair, N.J.) chipped in with five kills, six digs and a match-high three aces. 

Senior Amelia Combs (Eugene, Ore.) registered eight kills, classmate Parker Cummings (Rochester, N.Y.) totaled six kills and sophomore Mia Rodriguez (Palmetto Bay, Fla.) handed out 20 assists to lead the Lions. Graduate student Caroline Davis (Orlando, Fla.) tied for match-high honors with 13 digs in the loss. 

The opening set featured seven ties and a pair of lead changes before the Green and White went in front for good with a 7-1 run. Griffin and Gips both recorded five kills and Allen added four as the Beavers hit .256 as a team and led by as many as eight twice late in the frame. 

Game two had nine ties and seven lead changes before Babson pulled away with a late run. The hosts went ahead 17-16 on a service error by Cummings and then used back-to-back kills by Allen and Fouche to stretch the margin to three. Emerson got back within 20-18 on an error, but the Beavers responded with four straight points, which included kills by Ackerman and first-year Angelina Holm (Denver, Colo.) to take their largest lead of the set at 24-18. 

Fouche and Griffin combined for five of Babson's first eight points and sophomore Nora Whitehurst (Atlanta, Ga.) followed up a kill by Allen for a 12-9 lead in the third. The Lions pulled with two on four occasions in the back half of the set only to see the Green and White respond with a point each time. Gips registered two kills in the span of three points to make it 17-14, another kill by Fouche pushed the lead back to 22-19, and the hosts took advantage of consecutive errors by Emerson before closing out the match with a Fouche service ace. 

The Beavers recorded 42 kills and .253 as a team while holding the Lions to their lowest hitting percentage of the season (.082). 

Both teams return to action on Saturday as Babson travels to Coast Guard at 1 p.m., while Emerson heads to WPI for a tri-match beginning at 11 a.m. 

MATCH NOTES
•    The Beavers are now 13-3 all-time against Emerson and have won five straight matches in the series going back to 2019.
•    Babson has now opened NEWMAC play with a victory in 12 consecutive seasons going back to 2012. 
•    The Green and White has hit better than .200 in nine of its 10 wins this fall. 
•    The Beavers are 20-1 at home going back to the start of last season.