CLAREMONT, Calif.—The 18th-ranked Babson College women's volleyball team split a pair of five-set thrillers to conclude its trip to Southern California on Saturday. The Beavers were unable to hold onto a two-set advantage in a 20-25, 15-25, 27-25, 25-23, 15-13 loss to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps before turning the tables by rallying for a reverse sweep of Pomona-Pitzer College to win 15-25, 22-25, 25-23, 25-21, 21-19.
Babson, which snapped a two-match skid with the win over Pomona-Pitzer, is now 13-4 on the year. CMS has won three of its last four matches to improve to 8-8, while Pomona-Pitzer slips to 7-12 overall.
CMS 3, Babson 2
Sophomore
Ailsa Munro (Sylmar, Calif.) recorded a career-high 20 kills and a season-high seven blocks, senior
Hailey Fouche (Montclair, N.J.) registered 12 kills and four blocks, and first-year
Lia Gonzalez (Miami, Fla.) contributed 11 kills and 10 digs for her second double-double of the fall to pace the Beavers. Junior
Angelina Holm (Denver, Colo.) totaled nine kills and four blocks while hitting .450, senior
Zoe Ackerman (Aurora, Colo.) dished out a season-high 50 assists to go along with 11 digs and three aces, and junior
Sabina Frosk (Coppell, Texas) tied for match-high honors with 19 digs in the loss.
Phoebe Shorney (River Forest, Ill.) had 16 kills to lead three players in double figures, Shae Delany (Santa Barbara, Calif.) recorded 14 kills and 19 digs, and Hayden Lin (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) contributed 30 assists and 16 digs to lead the Athenas, who extended their home winning streak to 12 matches.
The Green and White built an early six-point lead but needed a five-point run that included kills from four different players to regain a 22-18 lead after CMS had jumped in front by one. Gonzalez recorded a kill to make it 23-20 and Frosk served up back-to-back aces to end the first set.
The Beavers recorded 14 kills and hit .382 in a dominating second-set win and led 23-22 in the third before the Athenas took advantage of four late errors to send the match to a fourth set with a two-point win. Babson led 19-12 in the fourth after consecutive kills by Munro and Gonzalez and was still in front 21-17 before the hosts got two kills and a block from Shorney to go in front 22-21. CMS took the lead for good at 23-22 on a service error and got a kill from Quincy Rodin (Paradise Valley, Ariz.) on set point to force a decisive fifth set.
The teams combined for 21 kills and just three errors in a fifth game that featured four ties and three lead changes. The Green and White took its final lead at 8-7 on a kill by sophomore
Devon Burke (Newtonville, Mass.) only to see the Athenas respond with a three-point run to build a 10-8 edge on a kill by Delany. Babson got within a point on three occasions, the last coming at 14-13, before Shorney completed the comeback with a kill.
Babson 3, Pomona-Pitzer 2
Burke hit .341 and recorded a career-high 18 kills, first-year
Julia Garcia (Belo Horizonte, Brazil) hit .333 and provided a season-high 13 kills and Fouche and Munro added 11 and 10 kills, respectively, while finishing with four blocks apiece to lead the Beavers. Ackerman handed out 45 assists, first-year
Maya Foley (Allentown, N.J.) totaled a season-high six blocks, and first-year
Sara Arango (Miami, Fla.) chipped in with a season-high 19 digs in the victory.
Kayla Thienprasiddhi (Fullerton, Calif.) produced 13 kills and 11 digs, Samantha Grabb (Solana Beach, Calif.) added 12 kills and Paige Butler (New York, N.Y.) contributed 25 assists and 12 digs to pace the Sagehens. Corrina Benson (Savage, Minn.) led all players with 26 digs and seven service aces in the loss.
Trailing 2-0 despite hitting .400 in the second set, the Green and White was down by as many as seven midway through the third before staging a furious rally. Garcia recorded five kills in the span of eight points to turn a 19-17 deficit into a 23-21 advantage, and the Beavers took advantage of a pair of attack errors by Pomona-Pitzer to force a fourth set.
Leading 14-13 in the fourth, Babson got kills from four different players and an ace by Gonzalez during a six-point run for a commanding 20-13 lead on the way to pushing the match to a fifth set. The deciding game featured 16 ties and six lead changes with the Beavers surviving three match points and the Sagehens fighting off four. Garcia gave the visitors a 20-19 advantage and Pomona-Pitzer made an error on the ensuing play to end the contest.
Babson is back in action on Wednesday when it travels to WPI at 6 p.m.
MATCH NOTES
• The Beavers, who defeated CMS in five sets in the first round of last year's NCAA Tournament, are now 1-2 all-time against the Athenas, and 2-0 all-time versus Pomona-Pitzer.
• Munro's 20 kills in the loss to CMS are the most by a Babson player since sophomore
Liberty May (Grapevine, Texas) recorded 22 in a five-set triumph over Smith on September 27, 2025.
• Ackerman's 50 assists in the loss to CMS are tied for her highest total since handing out 51 in a four-set victory over Salve Regina on October 19, 2024.
• The win over Pomona-Pitzer marked the first time the Beavers have rallied from a two-set deficit since September 7, 2024, when it pulled off a reverse sweep against UMass Dartmouth.
