BEVERLY, Mass.—First-year
Ailsa Munro (Sylmar, Calif.) finished with season highs of 12 kills and eight blocks and junior
Zoe Ackerman (Aurora, Colo.) handed out a season-best 48 assists to help visiting Babson College defeat Endicott College in four sets, 25-19, 25-27, 25-18, 27-25, in non-conference women's volleyball action on Friday night inside MacDonald Gymnasium.
With its eighth consecutive victory, Babson improves to 12-3 overall. Endicott, which had its modest two-match winning streak snapped, is now 9-9 on the year.
Senior
Isabella Allen (Williamsville, N.Y.), junior
Hailey Fouche (Montclair, N.J.) and sophomore
Angelina Holm (Denver, Colo.) all recorded 10 kills and three blocks, while fellow sophomore
Sofia Ibarra (Coral Gables, Fla.) added six kills in nine attempts and four blocks over the final two sets for the Beavers. Senior
Sophia Shaw (Novato, Calif.) contributed a team-high 16 digs and Holm served up three aces in the victory.
Junior Hadley Helenbrook (Atlanta, Ga.) led all players with 13 kills, sophomore Angelina Fitzharris (Webster, N.Y.) added 11 kills and senior Kelsey Sanborn (Londonderry, N.H.) contributed 10 kills and four blocks to pace the Gulls. Sophomore Hannah Maguire (San Jose, Calif.) handed out 40 assists and junior Abby Downs (Billerica, Mass.) led all players with 17 digs in the loss.
Allen and junior
Allison Molendyk (Danville, Calif.) combined for nine kills as the Green and White hit .343 in the opening set. The duo recorded five of their kills to help the visitors build an early 11-4 lead and the margin extended to as many as eight on two occasions.
Game two featured 16 ties and seven lead changes before Endicott rallied from a five-point deficit to even the match. Sanborn provided a pair of kills and Downs chipped in with an ace during a six-point run that put the hosts in front 17-16 before the teams traded blows late in the frame.
Babson fought off a set point thanks to a kill by Holm and went in front 25-24 on an error only to see the Gulls respond with three straight points. Sanborn tied things up with a kill and Fitzharris followed up an error by the Beavers with her fourth kill of the stanza on set point.
The Green and White trailed 11-10 in the third before going on a 10-point run as Ibarra put away three kills and combined with Munro for three blocks to built a 20-11 advantage that it would not relinquish. Endicott responded by going in front 12-6 in game four and matched its largest lead at 19-12 before the Beavers answered with a late rally.
Holm recorded back-to-back kills to cut the deficit three and Babson got a kill from Allen, a service ace by Ackerman and block by Munro and Fouche to cap a four-point run to pull even at 23-all. Kills by Munro and Ibarra gave the visitors a 25-24 lead, and another block by Munro and Fouche made it 26-25 before the Gulls committed an error to end the match.
Babson is back in action on Tuesday when it hosts WPI at 7 p.m., while Endicott faces 25th-ranked Tufts on Wednesday at 6 p.m.
MATCH NOTES
• The Beavers are now 14-9 all-time against Endicott and have won three straight matches in the series.
• The last 10 matches between Babson and the Gulls going back to 2016 have been decided in either four or five sets.
• The Green and White, which hit .201 in Friday's victory, has now won 47 consecutive matches when finishing with a hitting percentage of .200 or better.
• Babson is 11-2 this fall when winning the first set.
