NEW LONDON, Conn.—Senior Lauren Gips (Winter Park, Fla.) hit .531 and led all players with 17 kills to help visiting Babson College defeat the Coast Guard Academy in three sets, 26-24, 25-21, 25-21, in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) women's volleyball action on Saturday afternoon inside Roland Hall. 

With its seventh consecutive win, Babson improves to 11-1 overall and 2-0 in league play. Coast Guard has dropped two of its last three matches to slip to 10-6 overall and 0-2 in the NEWMAC. 

Junior Isabella Allen (Williamsville, N.Y.) and senior Lauren Griffin (Los Altos Hills, Calif.) registered 14 and 10 kills, respectively, while sophomore Hailey Fouche (Montclair, N.J.) hit .462 and contributed six kills and seven digs to lead the Beavers. Classmate Zoe Ackerman (Aurora, Colo.) doled out 45 assists to go along with 10 digs, junior Sophia Shaw (Novato, Calif.) led all players with 25 digs, and first-year Sabina Frosk (Coppell, Texas) finished one shy of her career high with 10 digs in the win. 

First-year Amelia Matson (Stafford, Va.) recorded 10 kills, senior Shannon Shaw (Torrance, Calif.) added eight kills and nine digs, and sophomore Sophia Rosenberg (Lebanon, Pa.) dished out 30 assists to go along with nine digs and five kills to lead the Bears. 

The Green and White was down by as many as four early in the opening set, overcame a pair of late three-point deficits and fought off two game points to rally for a 26-24 victory. Two straight kills by Fouche and another from Ackerman made it 21-21 but Coast Guard got kills from Shaw, Rosenburg and sophomore Eloise Shirley (Burke, Va.) to regain a 24-22 edge. The Beavers pulled within one on an error and tied it on a kill by Allen before taking their first lead of the frame at 25-24 on Gips' seventh kill. Ackerman then recorded her third kill at set point to finish off the comeback. 

Babson trailed 6-4 in the second before getting three kills from Gips, two more from Allen and a pair of aces from Frosk as part of a nine-point run. The Green and White used back-to-back kill by Allen to grab its largest lead of the stanza at 15-7 and got two more kills from Allen after the Bears had closed within 23-21 to take a two-set lead. 

The Beavers raced out to a 9-4 advantage in game three and recorded 18 kills while hitting .280 to finish off the sweep. Coast Guard got a kill from Matson to make it 16-16 and the teams traded the next eight points before Babson got kills from Griffin and Gips and a pair of blocks to forge a 24-20 lead it would not relinquish. 

The Green and White finished with a .250 hitting percentage and recorded its most kills (54) this fall in a three-set match. The Bears hit .214 in the loss, which is the highest percentage allowed this season by the Beavers. 

Both teams return to action on Tuesday as Babson travels to Wellesley at 7 p.m., while Coast Guard hosts Wheaton at 6 p.m. 

MATCH NOTES
•    The Beavers are 21-23 all-time against Coast Guard and have won 15 straight matches between the teams. 
•    Babson is off to a 2-0 start in NEWMAC play for the 10th consecutive season going back to 2014. 
•    The Green and White has now won 26 straight contests when it finishes with a hitting percentage of .200 or better. 
•    Gips surpassed 500 kills and also became the 21st player to reach 700 career points in Saturday's victory.