No. 24 Women's Volleyball at WPI
Wednesday, October 14 | 6 p.m.
Harrington Auditorium | Worcester, Mass.
SERIES HISTORY
• Babson is 35-11 all-time against WPI in a series that dates back to 1980.
• The Beavers have won their last nine matches versus the Engineers since 2016, although last year's contest was decided in four sets after needing five sets to fend off WPI in 2024.
• The Green and White has been victorious in each of its last six visits to Harrington Auditorium, which includes head coach
Eric Neely picking up his 300th win in Worcester in 2024.
LAST MEETING
•
Isabella Allen '26 led all players with 13 kills, junior
Angelina Holm added 12 kills and three blocks, and
Sophia Shaw '26 recorded a match-high 19 digs as the Beavers defeated WPI in four sets, 25-17, 25-11, 22-25, 25-17, on October 14, 2025, in Babson Park.
• Sophomore
Ailsa Munro added seven kills and four blocks, senior
Zoe Ackerman handed out 42 assists to go along with nine digs, and sophomore
Misaki Harte led all players with three service aces for the Beavers.
• Anastasia Kelnik recorded eight kills and four blocks, Bridget Spees provided six kills and eight digs, and Olivia Hutchinson led all players with six blocks for the Engineers, who hit just .045 in the loss.
SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• No. 24 Babson (13-4, 4-1 NEWMAC) bounced back from consecutive losses by rallying for a five-set win (15-25, 22-25, 25-23, 25-21, 21-19) over Pomona-Pitzer to conclude its trip to California last Saturday.
• Sophomore
Devin Burke (18) and first-year
Julia Garcia (13) both set career highs in kills while combining to hit .338, senior
Hailey Fouche (11 kills) and Munro (10 kills) both finished with four blocks, and Ackerman handed out 45 assists for the Beavers, who erased a seven-point deficit in the third set and survived three match points in the fifth.
• Fouche ranks eighth in the NEWMAC in both kills per set (3.08) and hitting percentage (.293), Burke is averaging 2.60 kills per set and Munro (2.34 k/s, 0.74 blocks/set) ranks fourth in the league with a .331 hitting percentage.
• Holm (1.71 k/s, 0.94 b/s) ranks fourth in the conference in blocks, Ackerman (10.20 a/s, 1.86 d/s) ranks eighth in Division III in assists and junior
Sabina Frosk is averaging a team-high 3.98 digs per set.
SCOUTING THE ENGINEERS
• WPI (8-8, 2-3 NEWMAC) has dropped four of its last six matches after suffering a four-set loss (25-20, 25-17, 22-25, 25-12) to 24th-ranked Smith last Tuesday.
• Hutchinson and Zeala VanDamme both finished with nine kills and three blocks, Kelnik added nine kills and two blocks, and Lauren Boycourt handed out 17 assists to go along with 11 digs for the Engineers, who hit .220 in the loss.
• Hutchinson (2.45 k/s, 0.94 b/s) ranks third in the NEWMAC in blocks and is fifth in the league with a .293 hitting percentage, Spees is averaging 2.26 kills and 2.38 digs per set, and Niki Szauvly is contributing 2.04 kills per set.
• VanDamme (1.67 k/s, 0.85 b/s) ranks ninth in the conference in blocks, Amelia Lynch is handing out 6.91 assists per set and Jennah DiMartino is averaging a team-high 3.62 digs per set this fall.
ACKERMAN EARNS NEWMAC RECOGNITION
• After totaling 179 assists, averaging 10.53 assists per set and helping the Beavers hit .223 as a team in four matches, Ackerman was tabbed as the NEWMAC Offensive Co-Athlete of the Week on Tuesday.
• She finished with at least 37 assists in all four matches, which includes a season-high 50 against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and 45 versus Pomona-Pitzer as the Beavers split a pair of five-set matches last Saturday.
CALIFORNIA LOVE
• In addition to Ackerman earning conference recognition, the Beavers produced a number of strong individual performances during last weekend's trip to Southern California.
• Munro set a new career high with 20 kills and provided a season-high seven blocks in the five-set loss to CMS, and averaged 3.07 kills and 0.86 blocks per set while hitting .376 in three matches.
• First-year
Lia Gonzalez set a new career high with 17 kills in Friday's four-set loss to La Verne, classmate
Maya Foley recorded a season-high six blocks in the five-set win over Pomona-Pitzer, and Harte set a new career high with 14 digs versus the Sagehens.
• First-year
Sara Arango finished with a season-best 19 digs against both La Verne and Pomona-Pitzer, and averaged 3.64 digs per set over the weekend.
STREAKING BEAVERS
• Ackerman has handed out 30 or more assists in eight consecutive matches.
• Fouche has recorded double-digit kills in three straight matches and has at least six kills in all 17 contests this fall, in addition to producing at least one block in 11 consecutive outings.
• Holm has contributed at least one block in 13 straight matches, while Munro owns a streak of 11 consecutive matches with a block and four straight contests with 10 or more kills.
• Frosk has 11 or more digs in each of her last eight matches, which includes 19 or more in three straight.
MOVING ON UP
• Ackerman ranks third in program history with 3,604 assists and needs just 28 to pass Kathleen Lynch '13 for second place all-time. She is also third in Babson annals with 217 service aces, and needs four more to match Alyson Yablonskie '03 for second place.
• Fouche has moved into 12th place on the Beavers' all-time list with 683 kills and is also 14th with 836.5 career points.
NUMBERS TO KNOW
• Babson has hit .211 in five of its last six matches and is 12-1 this fall when it finishes with a hitting percentage of .200 or better.
• The Beavers are 8-0 on the year and 127-10 dating back to 2018 when recording more digs than their opponents.
• The Green and White is 8-1 away from home against NEWMAC foes going back to last year, which includes seven consecutive regular season victories.
• Babson has finished with at least seven total blocks in seven of its last nine matches and is 9-1 this season when registering more blocks than its opponents.
UP NEXT
• The Beavers return home to face Mount Holyoke on Saturday at 1 p.m.
