No. 25 Women's Volleyball at the New England Challenge
Friday, October 23: vs. Middlebury, 7 p.m. | Staake Gymnasium | Babson Park, Mass. 
Saturday, October 24: vs. Tufts, 11 a.m. | vs. Williams, 3 p.m. | Rockwell Cage | Cambridge, Mass. 

WHAT TO KNOW
•    The Babson women's volleyball team will compete in the 11th edition of the New England Challenge, which features No. 7 AVCA/No. 4 NPI MIT and Springfield from the NEWMAC and NESCAC foes Middlebury, Tufts and Williams. 
•    The Beavers host Middlebury inside Staake Gymnasium on Friday night before traveling to Cambridge to face Tufts and Williams on Saturday. 

SERIES HISTORY
vs. Middlebury 
•    Babson is 5-6 all-time against the Panthers in a series that dates back to 2015. 
•    The Beavers have won back-to-back meetings after defeating Middlebury in five sets, 27-25, 14-25, 25-17, 17-25, 15-10, on October 24, 2025, in Springfield, Mass. 
•    Seven of the 11 previous matches between the teams have been decided in either four or five sets. 

vs. Tufts
•    The Beavers are 3-22 all-time versus the Jumbos in a series that goes back to 1980.
•    Four of the last seven matches between the teams have been decided in five sets, which includes Tufts' 17-25, 25-21, 25-17, 19-25, 17-15 victory on October 25, 2025, in Springfield. 
•    All three of Babson's wins in the all-time series have come since 2015. 

vs. Williams
•    Babson is 5-8 all-time against the Ephs in a series that dates back to 2002. 
•    The Beavers have won two straight and four of the last six matches between the teams after defeating Williams, 25-18, 27-29, 25-20, 25-14, on October 25, 2025, in Springfield. 
•    Four of the last five contests between the teams have been decided in four sets, and none of the 13 previous matches have gone five sets. 

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
•    No. 25 AVCA/No. 14 NPI Babson (16-4) enters the weekend riding a four-match winning streak after knocking off No. 7/3 MIT in four sets, 29-27, 25-20, 24-26, 25-23, on Tuesday night in Cambridge. 
•    First-year Lia Gonzalez recorded a career-high 18 kills, senior Hailey Fouche provided 17 kills and a career-best seven blocks, sophomore Ailsa Munro (12 kills) matched her career high with eight blocks and senior Zoe Ackerman contributed 49 assists and 11 digs for the Beavers, who finished the night with a .257 hitting percentage. 
•    Fouche is averaging career highs of 3.11 kills and 0.86 blocks per set while hitting .308, Munro (2.42 k/s, 0.90 b/s) boasts a .338 hitting percentage and sophomore Devon Burke is contributing 2.39 kills per set. 
•    Junior Angelina Holm (1.59 k/s) is averaging a team-high 0.91 blocks per set, Ackerman ranks fourth in Division III in assists per set (10.31) and leads the Green and White with 46 service aces, and junior Sabina Frosk leads the defense averaging 4.05 digs per set. 

SCOUTING THE PANTHERS
•    Middlebury (14-5) has dropped three of its last four matches and is coming off a 3-0 loss at No. 4/3 Colby last Saturday. 
•    Molly Harrison (11) and Natalie Stanford (10) combined for 21 kills, Chloe Cunniffe provided 15 assists and 12 digs, and Annabella Rando led all players with 23 digs for the Panthers, who hit .200 while committing just seven attack errors over the final two sets. 
•    Harrison (3.39 k/s, 2.69 d/s) has recorded double-digit kills and digs in four of the last seven matches, Stanford (2.88 k/s) is hitting .259 and has at least 10 kills in five of the last six contests, and Molly MacDonald is contributing 1.82 kills per set. 
•    Gabby Pribisich (1.20 k/s) is averaging a team-high 0.90 blocks per set, Cunniffe and Campbell Bartley have combined to dish out 9.54 assists per set, and Rando leads the defense with 4.81 digs per set. 

SCOUTING THE JUMBOS
•    Tufts (13-7) has followed up an eight-match winning streak with back-to-back losses after suffering a four-set defeat at Amherst last Saturday. 
•    Maiwenn Kamdje and Tessa Fergusson both had 11 kills, Rianna Liu posted a double-double with 22 assists and 10 digs, and Dylan Whisenant led all players with 26 digs for the Jumbos, who limited the Mammoths to a .174 hitting percentage in the loss. 
•    Kamdje (2.70 k/s) is hitting .247 and has recorded at least 10 kills in six of the last seven matches, Claire Castor is averaging 2.54 kills and 2.35 digs per set, and Emma Heckman is contributing 2.26 kills per set. 
•    Fergusson (1.84 k/s) boasts a .362 hitting percentage and is averaging a team-high 0.91 blocks per set, Liu and Ellery Clark have combined to hand out 10.91 assists per set, and Whisenant leads the team in both digs per set (2.82) and service aces (32). 

SCOUTING THE EPHS
•    Williams (11-7) enters the weekend having dropped back-to-back five-set matches after falling 25-15, 22-25, 25-23, 24-26, 17-15 at Connecticut College last Saturday. 
•    Kate Lane and Adalena Rodgers registered 13 kills apiece, Maya Thompson tied for match-high honors with four blocks and Morgan Daetz provided 26 assists and 14 digs for the Ephs, who recorded their third highest hitting percentage of the season (.236) in the loss. 
•    Lane is averaging 2.44 kills and 2.27 digs per set, Keely Campuzano is contributing 2.12 kills and Chidimma Obi (2.07 k/s) and Rodgers (2.06 k/s) are both hitting .203 on the year. 
•    Elsa Miller is averaging a team-high 1.14 blocks per set, Daetz and Lilly Carstens have combined to dole out 9.59 assists per set, and Eve Kaplan is contributing a team-high 4.46 digs per set. 

NEW ENGLAND CHALLENGE HISTORY
•    After winning two of three matches for the second year in a row last fall, the Beavers are now 13-16 all-time in the New England Challenge, which began in 2015. 
•    The Green and White went 3-0 back in 2019 and has won at least one match in all but two seasons (2017, 2022) over the last decade. 
•    Babson is 5-1 all-time in New England Challenge matches inside Staake Gymnasium, which includes a 2-1 record versus Friday's opponent Middlebury. 

DIG PINK
•    The Babson volleyball team will play a Dig Pink match when it hosts Middlebury on Friday night in support of The Side-Out Foundation's Dig Pink initiative. 
•    The goal of the Side-Out Foundation is to completely fund advanced research and personalized guidance for 1,000 metastatic breast cancer patients every year, a mission that requires a $5 million annual investment. Your generous donation does more than keep the rally going; it accelerates breakthrough research and gives patients real hope. Let's change what's possible, together.
•    To donate, please visit https://giving.side-out.org/campaigns/23585.

RISING IN THE RECORD BOOKS
•    Ackerman ranks second in Babson history in both assists (3,734) and service aces (229), and her 9.98 assists per set are the third highest average all-time. 
•    Fouche is one of just five players in program history with more than 700 kills and 200 blocks, and ranks 11th on the career list in both kills (722) and points (883.0) in addition to moving up to 12th with 201 career blocks. 

TRENDS TO WATCH
•    The Beavers have hit .200 or better in five consecutive matches and eight of their last nine outings going back to September 29. 
•    Babson has recorded eight or more total blocks in eight of the last nine matches, which includes a season-best 15 in Tuesday's win at MIT.
•    Munro is averaging 3.12 kills and 1.08 blocks per set while hitting .369 over the last seven matches. 
•    Going back to last year's NEWMAC Tournament final, Fouche has recorded 11 or more kills in 19 of the last 23 matches. 
•    In her last nine matches dating back to September 19, Frosk is averaging 4.84 digs per set. 
•    Sophomore Liberty May, who hit .545 in Tuesday's win at MIT, has finished with at least six kills in six of the Beavers' last seven matches. 
•    Over the last six matches, first-year Sara Arango has totaled 102 digs while averaging 3.92 digs per set. 
•    In seven appearances since October 3, first-year Maya Foley is averaging 1.20 kills and 1.53 blocks per set. 

STREAKING BEAVERS
•    Ackerman has dished out 30 or more assists in 11 straight matches. 
•    Holm has recorded at least one block in 16 consecutive matches, while Fouche and Munro have both contributed at least one block in 14 straight contests. 
•    Frosk has finished with at least 19 digs in each of her last four matches going back to October 6. 

NUMBERS TO KNOW
•    Babson enters the weekend ranked ninth in Division III in hitting percentage (.246), 17th in kills per set (13.24) and 32nd in blocks per set (2.08). 
•    The Beavers are 7-1 inside Staake Gymnasium and 9-3 in road and neutral court matches this fall. 
•    The Green and White is 10-0 on the year when recording more digs than its opponents. 
•    Babson is 10-0 this fall and 56-1 over the last four seasons when it holds its opponents to a hitting percentage of .150 or lower. 

UP NEXT
•    The Beavers return to NEWMAC play next Tuesday when they host Salve Regina at 7 p.m.