BALTIMORE—Sophomore Sofia Ibarra (Coral Gables, Fla.) and first-year Liberty May (Grapevine, Texas) combined for 14 kills as Babson College recorded a three-set win (26-24, 25-19, 25-21) over Capital University to begin play at the Greg "Gio" Giovanazzi Memorial Tournament on Friday night inside Goldfarb Gymnasium. 

Babson (1-0) won its 10th consecutive season opener, while Capital (0-1) has dropped 10 straight matches going back to last year. 

Ibarra hit .583 and recorded a team-high eight kills, May total six kills on 13 swings for a .385 hitting percentage, and juniors Hailey Fouche (Montclair, N.J.) and Nora Whitehurst (Atlanta, Ga.) added five kills apiece to pace the Beavers. Fellow junior Zoe Ackerman (Aurora, Colo.) doled out 28 assists to go along with three service aces, while senior Sophia Shaw (Novato, Calif.) tied for match-high honors with 15 digs in the victory. 

Junior Chloe Preocanin (Madison, Ind.) led all players with 11 kills, sophomore Carlee Thompson (Newark, Ohio) had 25 assists and senior Abby Brunner (Columbus, Ohio) registered 15 digs to lead the Comets. 

The opening set featured 10 ties and two lead changes with the teams never separated by more than three points. The Green and White took a 22-19 lead on a service ace by May, but Capital pulled within 24-23 on a kill by Preocanin and tied things up on an attack error by the Beavers. Babson regained a 25-24 edge on a Comets' error and Ackerman followed up with her first ace of the night to close out the stanza. 

The Green and White used back-to-back kills by senior Isabella Allen (Williamsville, N.Y.) and May to build a 14-10 lead in game two only to see Capital answer with five straight points to go back in front on an ace by Preocanin. Babson answered right back though, scoring seven of the next eight points including two kills and a block from sophomore Angelina Holm (Denver, Colo.) to forge a 23-17 advantage that it would not relinquish. 

The Beavers never trailed in the third set and used two kills from Ibarra and a pair of aces by Ackerman to grab an early 11-6 lead. The Comets scored six of the next eight points to pull even before May combined on a block with first-year Ailsa Munro (Sylmar, Calif.), recorded a kill and then served up an ace to spark a 5-1 run that gave the Green and White an 18-14 edge. 

Capital closed with 23-21 on an ace by Brunner, but Whitehurst responded with a kill and Babson took advantage of an attack error on the ensuing point to close out the match. 

The Beavers will face Rowan at 11 a.m. and fourth-ranked Johns Hopkins at 5 p.m. on Saturday. 

MATCH NOTES
•    Friday's match was the first all-time between Babson and Capital. 
•    The Beavers finished Friday's match with a .312 hitting percentage and are now 36-0 since the start of the 2023 campaign when hitting at least .200. 
•    With 10 aces in Friday's victory, the Green and White is now 16-1 since the start of last season when recording double-digit aces. 
•    Babson held the Comets to a .146 hitting percentage and improved to 35-0 over the last three seasons when its foes hit .150 or worse.