Women's Volleyball at Wellesley
Tuesday, October 1 | 7 p.m. 
Dorothy Towne Fieldhouse | Wellesley, Mass.

SERIES HISTORY
•    Babson is 11-34 all-time against Wellesley in a series that dates back to 1980. 
•    The Beavers have dominated the series as of late with five consecutive victories and wins in nine of their last 11 matches versus the Blue going back to 2014. 
•    The Green and White has been victorious in two of its last three matches inside Dorothy Towne Fieldhouse since 2015. 
•    Four of the last seven contests between the teams going back to 2017 have been decided in five sets. 

LAST MEETING
•    Erin Gray '24 finished with 18 kills and sophomore Allison Molendyk added 16 kills and 13 digs to help the Beavers defeat Wellesley in five sets (23-25, 25-19, 25-15, 23-25, 15-7) on September 26, 2023, in Babson Park. 
•    Senior Lauren Gips added 12 kills, classmate Tatum Stelter finished with 21 digs and sophomore Zoe Ackerman handed out 50 assists for Babson, which closed the fifth set with a 9-1 run. 
•    Kate Giang tied for match-high honors with 18 kills and Madeline Zornek contributed 23 assists and 12 digs for the Blue. 

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
•    Babson (11-1, 2-0 NEWMAC) extended its winning streak to seven with a three-set victory (26-24, 25-21, 25-21) at Coast Guard on Saturday. 
•    Gips hit .531 and led all players with 17 kills, junior Isabella Allen added 14 kills and Ackerman contributed 45 assists, 10 digs and four kills for the Beavers, who finished with a .250 hitting percentage. 
•    Gips (3.00 kills/set, 0.92 blocks/set) ranks second in the conference with a .430 hitting percentage, Allen (3.00 k/s) is hitting .279 and senior Lauren Griffin is averaging 2.40 kills per set. 
•    Ackerman ranks third in the NEWMAC dishing out 9.48 assists per set to go along with a team-high 28 service aces, while junior Sophia Shaw ranks seventh in the league averaging 4.49 digs per set. 

SCOUTING THE BLUE
•    Wellesley (6-2, 1-1 NEWMAC) has won three of its last four matches and is coming off a three-set sweep of Wheaton on Saturday. 
•    Giang led all players with 13 kills and five service aces, Evelyn Hill added eight kills and three aces, and Rachel Xu chipped in with six kills and four blocks for the Blue, which hit .245 and finished with 15 aces in the victory. 
•    Giang is averaging a league-best 4.96 kills per set to go along with 2.41 digs, Hill is contributing 1.96 kills and 2.74 digs per set, and Caroline Meyer is chipping in with 1.42 kills to lead the offense. 
•    Else Kunze-Hoeg is dishing out 6.54 assists per set, while Kanja Kunze-Hoeg ranks second in the conference averaging 5.44 digs per set. 

ACKERMAN, SHAW SWEEP NEWMAC WEEKLY AWARDS
•    After leading the Beavers to victories over Emerson and Coast Guard to begin conference play, Ackerman was tabbed as the conference offensive player of the week and Shaw was selected as the league's defensive player of the week on Monday afternoon. 
•    Ackerman averaged 12.83 assists, 3.17 digs and 1.17 kills per set while helping the Green and White hit .251 in the wins. 
•    Shaw, who averaged 6.33 digs per set on the week, helped the Beavers hold Emerson to its lowest hitting percentage of the year (.082) and finished with 25 digs in the triumph over Coast Guard.

HITTING THEIR SPOTS
•    Babson recorded 54 kills on Saturday, which is its most in a three-set match since totaling 52 in a win over Keene State back on September 22, 2018. 
•    Ackerman's 45 assists in a three-set match are a career high and are the most since October 19, 2019, when Elizabeth Cameron '20 doled out 43 against Middlebury. 
•    Both the Beavers' 54 kills and Ackerman's 45 assists are the third most in a three-set match in Division III this fall. 

STREAKING BEAVERS
•    Ackerman has at least one service ace in five straight outings and has finished with at least 30 assists and nine digs in three consecutive matches. 
•    Gips has recorded double-digit kills in four straight contests and has at least one block in 25 matches in a row. 
•    Allen has double-digit kills in three straight outings and at least nine kills in six consecutive matches, while Griffin has nine or more kills against four straight opponents. 
•    Shaw has finished with 11 or more digs in four straight contests and has totaled at least nine digs in all 11 appearances this fall. 

SENIOR MILESTONES
•    Senior Tatum Stelter, who is one of just five players in program history with at least 900 digs and 150 service aces, ranks fifth with 172 aces and is just five away from matching Brianna San Diego '15 for fourth place. 
•    Gips surpassed 500 kills and 700 points in Saturday's win at Coast Guard and needs just 10 blocks to  become the eighth player in school history with at least 500 kills and 200 blocks. 

WINNING FORMULA
•    During its current seven-match winning streak, Babson is averaging 13.63 kills per set and 15.79 digs per set while hitting .236 as a team. 
•    The Green and White has recorded 33 more aces than its opponents during this stretch and has hit better than .210 in six consecutive outings. 

NUMBERS TO KNOW
•    The Beavers are 9-1 on the year when winning the first set. 
•    Babson is 10-0 this fall and 34-2 going back to the start of last year when recording more kills than its opponents. 
•    The Green and White has recorded more aces than its foes in all 12 matches this season
•    The Beavers have won their last 29 matches when opponents finishing with a hitting percentage of .150 or below. 

UP NEXT
•    Babson opens a four-match homestand on Friday night when it hosts Saint Michael's.