BABSON PARK, Mass.—Despite a career-high 11 kills from sophomore Hailey Fouche (Montclair, N.J.), Babson College suffered a four-set loss (23-25, 25-20, 25-14, 25-18) to visiting Franklin & Marshall College to open the Babson Invitational on Friday night inside Staake Gymnasium. 

Babson, which had its 16-match home winning streak snapped, slips to 4-1 on the year, while Franklin & Marshall improves to 4-1. 

Senior Lauren Griffin (Los Altos Hills, Calif.) recorded nine kills, classmate Lauren Gips (Winter Park, Fla.) added seven kills and sophomore Zoe Ackerman (Aurora, Colo.) dished out 26 assists to go along with a team-high 11 digs to lead the Beavers. Junior Sophia Shaw (Novato, Calif.), who led all players with four aces, and senior Tatum Stelter (Glendale, Ariz.) both contributed eight digs in the loss. 

Senior Gianna Mangiamele (Westfield, N.J.) finished with 13 kills and four blocks, junior Coco Shultz (Glenmoore, Pa.) registered 12 kills and 12 digs and first-year Ceci Connolly (Wilmington, Del.) chipped in with 10 kills for the Diplomats, who hit .339 as a team in the win. Junior Liah Perez (Wellington, Fla.) and first-year Carley Campbell (Easton, Pa.) dished out 21 and 16 assists, respectively, while rookie Avery Grantham (Raleigh, N.C.) contributed a match-high nine blocks on the night. 

The Green and White got out to a quick 10-5 lead in the first and matched its largest advantage of the night on a kill by Griffin to make it 15-10. Franklin & Marshall pulled within one four times late in the stanza but two kills by Gips and one apiece by Fouche and Griffin helped close out a two-point victory for a 1-0 edge in the match. 

The Beavers led by as many as three at 12-9 in the second before the Diplomats scored nine of the next 10 points to go in front for good. Babson pulled within 20-17 on a ace by Stelter but Shultz followed with a kill and an ace and Connolly chipped in with a pair of kills to close out the frame. 

Franklin & Marshall dominated the third set with 11 kills and six blocks en route to a 25-14 win and then finished off the match by hitting .448 in the fourth. Babson got out to a quick 6-2 lead and was still ahead by two before an 8-2 run that included three kills and a block from Shultz put the visitors in front for good. 

The Green and White got within 17-16 on a kill by Fouche, but the Diplomats got a pair of kills from Grantham during a four-point run to extend the margin back to five. 

Both teams return to action at 11 a.m. on Saturday as Babson takes on UMass Dartmouth, while Franklin & Marshall faces Emerson. 

MATCH NOTES
•    Friday's match was the first all-time between the Beavers and Diplomats. 
•    Friday's loss was the first at home by the Beavers since falling 3-1 to Smith back on October 29, 2022. 
•    The setback marked just the third time Babson has lost when winning the first set over its last 48 matches dating back to 2022. 
•    The Beavers hit a season-low .134 against Franklin & Marshall.