BABSON PARK, Mass.—First-year
Liberty May (Grapevine, Texas) recorded 14 kills and sophomore
Angelina Holm (Denver, Colo.) added 13 kills and four blocks to help second-seeded Babson College defeat seventh-seeded Mount Holyoke College in four sets, 25-13, 25-20, 23-25, 25-16, in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Tournament quarterfinal on Tuesday night inside Staake Gymnasium.
Babson, which has won three straight and seven of its last nine matches, improves to 21-6 on the year and advances to the NEWMAC semifinals for the 11th tournament in a row. Mount Holyoke sees its year come to a close at 15-14 after qualifying for the conference tournament for the first time since 2006.
Holm made just one error and finished with a .522 hitting percentage, junior
Hailey Fouche (Montclair, N.J.) handed out 47 assists, and first-year
Ailsa Munro (Sylmar, Calif.) and
Devon Burke (Newtonville, Mass.) contributed eight kills apiece for the Beavers. Holm and Ackerman both registered three service aces and senior
Sophia Shaw (Novato, Calif.) led all players with 13 digs.
Senior Elle Rimando (Mililani, Hawaii) recorded a match-high 17 kills, classmate Madeline Barton (Brookfield, Wis.) produced 14 kills and sophomore Olivia Murray (Miami, Fla.) chipped in with 11 kills to lead the Lyons. Senior Sadie Duffrin (Minneapolis, Minn.) handed out 36 assists, while classmate Amelia Ringor (Lafayette, Ind.) had a team-high 11 digs.
The Green and White led throughout the opening set, building a quick 7-2 lead that never got closer than three. Holm and Fouche recorded four kills apiece and combined for three service aces as the Beavers .500 as a team and took their largest lead of the frame at 24-12.
Game two featured 16 ties and four lead changes with teams separated by no more than two points until late. Mount Holyoke took its largest lead of the stanza at 13-11 on one of just three attack errors in the game by the Beavers, and were clinging to an 18-17 advantage before succumbing to a late 8-2 run by the Green and White.
Burke followed up back-to-back errors by the Lyons with a kill to make it 20-18, Fouche sandwiched a block in between two kills by Holm to extend the margin to 24-20, and Holm and Ackerman combined for a block on set point to go up 2-0 in the match.
Mount Holyoke led by as many as three four times in the third set, the last coming at 13-10, and withstood a late Babson rally to extend the match. The Beavers took their only lead of the stanza at 17-16 and used a kill by Fouche and a block by Holm to pull even at 23-all before the Lyons used a Rimando kill and an attack error on game point to close things out.
The Green and White responded with a dominant fourth-set performance, jumping out to a 7-1 advantage and hitting .484 while recording 18 kills to put away the Lyons.
Babson will face third-seeded Springfield in a NEWMAC Tournament semifinal at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday in Cambridge, Mass.
GAME NOTES
• The Beavers are 24-16 all-time against Mount Holyoke and have won the last 15 matches between the teams.
• Tuesday's match was the first between Babson and the Lyons in the conference playoffs since 1998.
• The Green and White has won its last nine NEWMAC quarterfinal matches dating back to 2014.
• The Beavers recorded their fourth highest hitting percentage of the year (.347) in Tuesday's victory and have now won 52 consecutive matches when hitting .200 or better.
