CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—Second-seeded Babson College got 10 kills apiece from first-years Devon Burke (Newtonville, Mass.) and Liberty May (Grapevine, Texas) and defeated third-seeded Springfield College in straight sets, 25-23, 25-14, 25-21, in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Tournament semifinal on Saturday afternoon inside Rockwell Cage. 

With its fourth straight win, Babson improves to 22-6 overall and advances to the NEWMAC Tournament final for the first time since 2022. Springfield slips to 23-7 and now must wait to see if it receives one of the final at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament when the final NPI standings come out late tomorrow. 

First-year Ailsa Munro (Sylmar, Calif.) added eight kills, junior Zoe Ackerman (Aurora, Colo.) handed out 33 assists and senior Sophia Shaw (Novato, Calif.) led all players with 17 digs for the Beavers. 

Emily Keaveney (Massapequa Park, N.Y.) recorded team highs of nine kills and 12 digs, while Jodi Saelua (Mililani, Hawaii), Ahunna James (Plainville, Mass.) and Aubrey Hughes (Liberty Hill, Texas) all finished with eight digs for the Pride. Saelua and James each provided five blocks and Tori Colosimo (Fairport, N.Y.) doled out 32 assists to go along with 10 digs in the loss. 

Springfield was in control of the opening set, leading by as many as seven at 17-10 and got within two points of winning at 23-19 before the Green and White erupted for six consecutive points. Sophomore Sabina Frosk (Coppell, Texas) followed up an error by James with a service ace and May recorded back-to-back kills to make it 23-all. Ackerman registered a kill to give Babson its first lead of the stanza and May produced a kill on set point to complete the comeback. 

The Beavers never trailed in game two recording 15 kills and hitting .500 to go up 2-0 in the match. Sophomore Angelina Holm (Denver, Colo.) capped a five-point run with back-to-back aces to make it 14-5 and Ackerman's second kill of the afternoon gave Babson its largest lead of the frame at 22-10. 

The Green and White closed out the match in the third, building a 22-14 lead before holding off a late rally by the Pride. James and Saelua combined for four kills and a block to cut the Springfield deficit to 23-21, but the Beavers got to set point thanks to a service error and got an ace from Ackerman on the ensuing point to punch their ticket to the final. 

Babson will face 12th-ranked and top-seeded MIT, which has won 18 consecutive matches, in the NEWMAC Tournament final on Sunday at 1 p.m. 

MATCH NOTES
•    The Beavers, who have won nine of the last 13 matches in the series, are now 4-1 all-time against Springfield in the conference playoffs. 
•    Babson is 6-5 in the NEWMAC semifinals since 2014 and will be seeking its fifth conference title and first since 2019 on Sunday. 
•    The Green and White hit .250 in the victory on Saturday and has now won 53 straight matches when recording a hitting percentage of .200 or better. 
•    The Beavers, who have now beaten Springfield twice in a season four times since 2017, had never before recorded back-to-back three-set sweeps of the Pride.