Women's Volleyball | New England Fall Classic
Friday, September 12 | vs. Brandeis, 4 p.m. | Staake Gymnasium
Saturday, September 13 | vs. Bowdoin, 12 p.m. | vs. Colby, 4 p.m. | Scott Gym | Northampton, Mass. 

WHAT TO KNOW
•    Babson will take part in the inaugural New England Fall Classic with three matches over two days beginning on Friday afternoon inside Staake Gymnasium. 
•    The Beavers will host Brandeis to open the event before traveling to Northampton, Mass., for matches against Bowdoin on Colby on Saturday afternoon at Smith. 

SERIES HISTORY
vs. Brandeis
•    Babson is 15-25 all-time against Brandeis in a series that dates back to 1975.
•    The Beavers have dominated the series as of late with nine consecutive victories going back to 2014, six of which have come in three sets. 
•    The Green and White recorded a sweep of the Judges (25-16, 25-18, 25-16) in last year's meeting on September 21 in Babson Park. 

vs. Bowdoin
•    Babson is 4-5 all-time against the Polar Bears in a series that dates back to 1993. 
•    The Beavers have won their last two matches versus Bowdoin, following up a 3-0 triumph in the 2018 NCAA Tournament regional final with a sweep (25-21, 25-17, 25-19) on September 14, 2019, in Cambridge, Mass. 
•    Each of the three neutral-site matches played between the Green and White and the Polar Bears from 2015-16 were decided in either four or five sets. 

vs. Colby
•    The Beavers are 6-1 all-time against the Mules in a series that dates back to 2001.
•    Babson has won five consecutive matches against Colby going back to 2014, which includes a four-set (24-26, 25-17, 25-22, 25-15) victory in Babson Park on September 23, 2023. 

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
•    Babson (3-1) is coming off a three-set sweep of Keystone in its home opener last Saturday. 
•    First-year Devon Burke hit .615 and led all players with 10 kills, sophomore Angelina Holm and first-year Ailsa Munro finished with six kills apiece, and junior Zoe Ackerman handed out 24 assists and served up a match-high four aces for the Beavers, who hit a blistering .571 as a team in the victory. 
•    Senior Isabella Allen is averaging a team-best 2.90 kills per set, sophomore Sofia Ibarra (2.63 k/s) is hitting .439 and first-year Liberty May is contributing 2.08 kills while hitting .295 ove the first four matches. 
•    Holm (1.70 k/s) is averaging 1.20 blocks per set, Ackerman is handing out 7.71 assists per set to go along with a team-high 15 service aces, and senior Sophia Shaw is first on the squad in both digs (45) and digs per set (3.21). 

SCOUTING THE JUDGES
•    Brandeis (4-2) has won four of its last five matches after rallying from two sets down for a 3-2 victory over Connecticut College last Saturday. 
•    Anna Ertischek (15), Madison Haft-Abromovitch (13) and Kennedy Lilly (12) combined for 40 kills, while Alex Ho handed out 37 assists to go along with three aces for the Judges, who limited the Camels to a .110 hitting percentage over the final three sets. 
•     Ertischek is averaging 3.52 kills per set, Haft-Abromovitch is contributing 3.30 kills per set and Lilly (2.83 k/s) is hitting .311 over the first six matches. 
•    Colette Ejang (1.55 k/s) is averaging 0.95 blocks per set, Ho is doling out 9.11 assists per game, and Ava Ferrigno is contributing a team-high 3.75 digs per set. 

SCOUTING THE POLAR BEARS
•    Bowdoin (3-2) enters the weekend riding a three-match winning streak thanks to a sweep of Southern Maine (25-21, 25-14, 25-12) on Wednesday night. 
•    Alison Smith totaled eight kills while hitting .889, Skye LaMendola added seven kills, three blocks and seven digs, and the duo of Cameron Shelly and Anna Yeh combined for 33 assists for the Polar Bears, who hit .316 and recorded a season-best 12 service aces. 
•    LaMendola leads the team in both kills per set (3.32) and digs per set (3.11) while hitting .318, Smith (2.19 k/s, 0.75 b/s) boasts a .312 hitting percentage, and Mina Mittler is averaging 1.84 kills per set. 
•    Hannah Woolley (1.00 b/s) leads the squad with 18 total blocks, Yeh and Shelly are combining to dish out 11.19 assists per set, and Kelsey Kim is contributing 2.84 digs per set. 

SCOUTING THE MULES
•    No. 17 Colby (6-0) has not dropped a set this fall and stayed unbeaten by cruising past Saint Joseph's (25-12, 25-16, 25-17) on Tuesday night. 
•    Brady Moseley led a balanced attack with 11 kills while hitting .588, Sydney DeProfio and Gabby Grujic combined for 17 assists, and Reese Loyd added seven digs for the Mules, who hit .364 as a team over the final two sets. 
•    Moseley (3.87 k/s, 2.20 d/s) boasts a .386 hitting percentage, LJ Grant is averaging 2.07 kills and 2.87 digs per set, and Marjorie Johnson is contributing 1.82 kills per set while hitting .255. 
•    Alexa Peguero is averaging a team-best 0.86 blocks per set, Grujic and Jordan Lee have combined to hand out 9.73 assists per set, and Loyd leads the squad in both digs (63) and digs per set (3.94). 

HOME SWEET HOME
•    Since 15th-year head coach Eric Neely arrived prior to the 2011 season, Babson boasts a .830 winning percentage and an overall record of 142-29 inside Staake Gymnasium. 
•    The Beavers went 15-3 at home last season with all three losses coming to programs that reached the NCAA Tournament (Franklin & Marshall, Smith, Springfield). 
•    Going back to the start of the 2022 campaign, the Green and White is 36-5 inside Staake Gymnasium.

BEAVER BITES
•    Allen, Ibarra, May and Burke have all finished with double-digit kills through the Beavers' first four matches. 
•    Holm has recorded at least one block in 10 straight contests going back to last year.
•    Ackerman has finished with at least three service aces in four straight matches and has 12 over Babson's last three outings.
•    Junior Allison Molendyk returned to action for the first time since September 30, 2023, in Saturday's win over Keystone, recording five kills, two aces and one block. 

MOVING UP THE CHARTS
•    Ackerman became just the fifth player in school history to surpass 1,900 career assists in the Beavers' August 30 loss to Johns Hopkins and passed Krissy Robertson '16 for fourth place on the program's all-time list with her 1,942 assists. 
•    Allen recorded four kills in last Saturday's win over Keystone to pass Tony Strange '94 for 11th place on the program's all-time list with 682 kills. 

NOTABLE
•    Ackerman dished out 42 assists and added 15 digs, Molendyk registered 11 kills and Shaw contributed 10 digs in the Beavers' four-set win over Colby back in 2023. 
•    Allen totaled nine kills and three blocks and Shaw finished with 11 digs in last year's win over Brandeis, while Ackerman is averaging 8.00 assists and 2.67 digs per set in victories over the Judges over the last two seasons.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
•    The Beavers are 6-3 against NESCAC opponents over the last two seasons.
•    Babson is 38-0 since the start of the 2023 campaign when hitting .200 or better.
•    The Green and White has won its last 37 matches when holding its opponents to a hitting percentage of .150 or below. 
•    The Beavers are 43-2 since the start of the 2023 season when serving up more aces than their foes. 

UP NEXT
•    Babson is back in action next Friday when it makes the short drive to Newton, Mass., to face Lasell.