Women's Volleyball vs. No. 15 MIT
Tuesday, October 21 | 6 p.m. 
Staake Gymnasium | Babson Park, Mass. 

SERIES HISTORY
•    Babson is 9-44 all-time against MIT in a series that dates back to 1976.
•    The Beavers have dropped three straight matches to the but are 4-5 since the 2018 NEWMAC Tournament and 8-10 versus the Engineers since 2013. 
•    The Green and White has won its last three home matches and is 5-1 against MIT inside Staake Gymnasium going back to 2013. 

LAST MEETING
•    Julia Tolstova and Ali Gibbs combined for 21 kills while hitting .439 to help then-fourth-ranked MIT defeat Babson in three sets, 25-19, 25-22, 25-15, in a NEWMAC Tournament semifinal on November 16, 2024, in Cambridge, Mass. 
•    Ella Gragg added eight kills, 11 digs and four aces, Kayleigh May handed out 31 assists and Ottavia Personeni tied for match-high honors with 17 digs for the Engineers, who hit .250 in the victory. 
•    Lauren Gips '25 finished with 13 kills, eight digs and six blocks, while junior Zoe Ackerman contributed 27 assists, six digs and three blocks for the Beavers, who got 17 digs from Tatum Stelter '25 in the loss. 

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
•    Babson (14-3, 7-0 NEWMAC) extended its winning streak to 10 matches with a 3-1 victory at Mount Holyoke on Saturday. 
•    First-year Liberty May recorded 10 kills, three service aces and two blocks, junior Hailey Fouche and first-year Ailsa Munro added eight kills apiece, and the duo Ackerman and first-year Quinn Kane combined for 40 assists for the Beavers, who overcame a season-high 22 service errors in the win. 
•    Senior Isabella Allen is averaging a team-best 2.59 kills per set, May (2.26 k/s) boasts a .273 hitting percentage, and junior Allison Molendyk is contributing 2.22 kills per set. 
•    Junior Angelina Holm (0.85) and Munro (0.84) rank fourth and fifth in the NEWMAC, respectively, in blocks per set, Ackerman is third in the league averaging 8.66 assists to go along with 1.82 digs per set, and senior Sophia Shaw leads the Green and White in both total digs (213) and digs per set (3.55). 

SCOUTING THE ENGINEERS
•    No. 15 MIT (16-3, 7-0 NEWMAC) has won eight matches in a row after defeating Springfield, 3-1, on Saturday afternoon. 
•    Ella Zhou led all players with 16 kills and added a team-high 18 digs, Eileen Sadati finished with 13 kills and four service aces, and May handed out 41 assists to go along with 12 digs, five aces and two blocks for the Engineers, who hit .415 in the second and third sets. 
•    Zhou is hitting .296, ranks third in the conference in kills per set (3.39) and is contributing 2.97 digs per set, Sadati is averaging 3.36 kills per set, which is good for fourth in the NEWMAC, and Gibbs (2.85 k/s) ranks second in the league with a .367 hitting percentage.
•    May leads all Division III setters in assists per set (11.23) in addition to averaging 2.37 digs per set, while Daphne Gavros leads MIT in both total digs (232) and digs per set (3.80). 

TWO AT THE TOP
•    Babson and MIT, which are tied atop the NEWMAC standings at 7-0, last met this late into October with both teams unbeaten in league play in 2022 when the Engineers defeated the Beavers in a battle of 8-0 squads. 
•    Through its first seven conference matches, the Green and White ranks second in points per set (16.59), kills per set (12.07), blocks per set (2.11) and hitting percentage (.251), and is also fourth in service aces per set (2.41).
•    MIT ranks first in points per set (19.83), kills per set (15.65), service aces per set (2.85), digs per set (16.50) and hitting percentage (.303). 

TRENDS TO WATCH
•    Allen has finished with eight or more kills in 11 of the last 13 matches dating back to September 12. 
•    Holm has recorded multiple blocks in 15 of 16 matches this season and has at least on block in 23 outings in a row dating back to last season.
•    Shaw has served up at least one ace in each of her last 15 matches and is averaging 4.40 digs per set over the last four contests. 
•    Ackerman has dished out 30 or more assists in six of Babson's last seven matches. 
•    Munro has contributed four or more total blocks in four consecutive outings and has at least two blocks in 16 of 17 contests this fall.
•    First-year Misaki Harte has provided two or more service aces in five consecutive matches. 

STREAKING BEAVERS
•    The Green and White has now won at least 10 matches in four consecutive seasons going back to 2022.
•    Babson, which recorded 16 straight wins in 2022, 2023 and 2024, set a single-season program record with 22 consecutive victories during the 2019 campaign. 
•    In eight seasons going back to 2017, the Beavers have won at least eight matches in a row in every seasons and have recorded at least 10 straight victories on six occasions. 

NUMBERS TO KNOW
•    Babson is 6-0 at home this season and boasts an .835 winning percentage (149-27) since 2011 under head coach Eric Neely. 
•    The Beavers are 13-2 this fall and 71-6 over the last four seasons when winning the first set. 
•    The Green and White is 13-0 this year and has won its last 48 matches when hitting .200 or better. 
•    Babson is 10-0 this fall when recording more blocks than its opponents. 

UP NEXT
•    The Beavers open the New England Challenge on Friday at 7 p.m. against Middlebury in Springfield, Mass.