No. 18 Women's Volleyball 
Friday, October 9 | at La Verne, 9 p.m. ET | La Verne, Calif.
Saturday, October 10 | at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, 2 p.m. ET | at Pomona-Pitzer, 6 p.m. ET | Claremont, California

WHAT TO KNOW
•    The Babson women's volleyball team travels to Southern California for matches against three of the top programs in the SCIAC on Friday and Saturday. 
•    The Beavers will take on La Verne, which is the reigning Division III NCAA Tournament runner-up, on Friday night at 9 p.m. ET, and is set to face Claremont-Mudd-Scripps at 2 p.m. ET and Pomona-Pitzer at 6 p.m. ET on Saturday. 

SERIES HISTORY
vs. La Verne
•    Babson is 0-1 all-time against the Leopards after suffering a four-set (15-25, 25-20, 10-25, 18-25) loss at the MIT Invitational back in 2017. 

vs. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps
•    Babson is 1-1 all-time versus the Athenas in a series that dates back to 2022. 
•    The Beavers dropped a 3-0 decision to CMS in Claremont, Calif., on September 2, 2022, before winning in five sets (23-25, 25-15, 23-25, 25-18, 15-11) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last season at Wesleyan. 

vs. Pomona-Pitzer
•    The Beavers are 1-0 all-time against the Sagehens after recording a four-set victory (26-24, 27-29, 25-12, 25-20) on September 3, 2022, in Claremont, Calif.

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
•    No. 18 Babson (12-2) has won three consecutive matches after defeating Emerson in three sets on Tuesday night. 
•    Sophomores Ailsa Munro (12) and Devon Burke (11) matched their career highs in kills, senior Zoe Ackerman handed out 37 assists, junior Sabina Frosk equaled her season high with 21 digs and senior Hailey Fouche and junior Angelina Holm both recorded four blocks for the Beavers, who hit .244 in the win. 
•    Fouche ranks third in the conference in kills per set (3.24) and fifth in hitting percentage (.315), Burke is averaging 2.57 kills per set while hitting .225 and Munro is contributing 2.06 kills per set and ranks seventh in the conference in hitting percentage (.305). 
•    Holm (1.92 k/s) ranks second in the NEWMAC in blocks per set (1.06) and sixth in hitting percentage (.315), Ackerman (10.22 ast/set, 1.80 d/s) ranks sixth in Division III in assists per set and junior Sabina Frosk is contributing a team-high 3.80 digs per set. 

SCOUTING THE LEOPARDS
•    La Verne (6-6) has won three of its last four matches after recording a reverse sweep of Pomona-Pitzer, 22-25, 17-25, 25-18, 25-20, 15-6, on Tuesday night. 
•    Lauren Gott finished with 14 kills, 21 digs and three blocks, Alanna Jones provided 11 kills and four blocks, and the duo of Jordyn McCoy and Malia Capistrano combined for 39 assists and 27 digs for the Leopards, who limited the Sagehens to just 19 kills over the final three sets. 
•    Gott (3.13 k/s, 3.39 d/s) has recorded double-digit kills in 10 of the last 11 matches and leads the team in digs, Jones is averaging 2.00 kills and 0.88 blocks per set, and Zacky Coaston (1.78 k/s, 1.26 b/s) boasts a .290 hitting percentage and ranks 14th in Division III in blocks per set. 
•     Abigail Montana ranks 11th nationally averaging 1.31 blocks per set, McCoy (2.71 d/s), Capistrano and America Reynaga are combining to hand out 10.39 assists per set, and Morgan Watkins is averaging 2.91 digs per set. 
 
SCOUTING THE ATHENAS
•    Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (6-8), which has won 11 in a row at home, has split its last four matches and is coming off a five-set loss (25-22, 24-26, 25-22, 17-25, 15-12) at Azusa Pacific on Tuesday night. 
•    Shae Delany led four players in double figures with 15 kills and 14 digs, Lauren Staples provided 14 digs, Phoebe Shorney added 12 digs and four blocks, and Skye Dunn finished with 25 digs for the Athenas, who hit .238 in the loss. 
•    Shorney (2.89 k/s, 0.76 b/s) owns a .248 hitting percentage and is third on the team in total blocks, Delany is averaging 2.22 kills and 3.54 digs per set, and Staples (1.86 k/s) is hitting .268 on the year. 
•    Solvej Eversoll (1.28) and Stella Gajar (1.15) rank 12th and 22nd, respectively, in Division III in blocks per set, Lin and Riter have combined to hand out 9.95 assists per set, and Elise Arends is averaging a team-high 3.59 digs per set. 

SCOUTING THE SAGEHENS
•    Pomona-Pitzer (7-10) has dropped eight of its last nine matches entering the weekend after dropping a five-set decision at La Verne on Tuesday. 
•    Kayla Thienprasiddhi recorded 11 kills, Samantha Grabb added 10 and Paige Butler (22 ast, 13 digs) and Sophie Mies (18 ast, 10 digs) both posted double-doubles for the Sagehens, who hit .225 while winning the first two sets, but just -.063 over the final three games. 
•    Thienprasiddhi (3.28 k/s) has recorded double-digit kills in 11 matches, Grabb is averaging 2.17 kills and 0.89 blocks per set in five matches since returning to action on September 24, and Ella Mesard is contributing 2.00 kills per set. 
•    CC Porter (1.82 k/s, 0.91 b/s) leads the squad in blocks, Butler and Mies have combined to dish out 9.50 assists per set, and Corrina Benson ranks first on the team in both digs per set (4.83) and service aces (39). 

NEWMAC MAKES STRONG DEBUT IN NPI RANKINGS
•    The NEWMAC enters the weekend as the only conference with three teams ranked in the top 10 of the Division III NCAA Power Index (NPI) rankings, which were released for the second time this fall on Wednesday. 
•    Babson is currently seventh, two spots behind MIT (5th) and one spot ahead of Smith (8th), while Emerson is ranked 24th, making the NEWMAC one of just two conferences along with the UAA to have four teams in the top 25. 
•    The Beavers own victories over No. 1 Carnegie Mellon, No. 20 William Smith and Emerson, and have suffered their only two losses to Smith and No. 9 Ithaca. 

STREAKING BEAVERS
•    Fouche has recorded at least six kills in every match this fall and multiple blocks in each of her last six contests.
•    Frosk has finished with 11 or more digs in six straight outings and is averaging 4.75 digs per set during this time.
•    Ackerman has doled out 30 or more assists in five straight outings.
•    Holm has at least one block in each of her last nine matches and has recorded multiple blocks eight times during this stretch. 
•    Munro enters the weekend riding a streak of eight straight matches with at least one block.

MOVING UP THE CHARTS
•    Ackerman became the third setter in program history to surpass 3,400 career assists in Tuesday's win and also ranks third on Babson's all-time list with 211 service aces. 
•    Fouche moved into 15th place all-time with six kills on Tuesday and now has 641 for her career. Additionally, she is tied for 16th all-time with 788.0 points. 

TRENDS TO WATCH
•    First-year Lia Gonzalez owns a .231 hitting percentage and is averaging 2.03 kills and 2.63 digs per set in 13 matches this fall.
•    Burke is averaging 3.07 kills per set while hitting .241 over the last four matches. 
•    Sophomore Liberty May contributed seven kills, four digs, a season-high three blocks and three service aces in Tuesday's win over Emerson.
•    Over the last two matches, first-year Maya Foley has contributed six kills and seven total blocks over four sets while hitting .333. 

NUMBERS TO KNOW
•    The Beavers are 6-1 this season and 21-8 going back to the start of last year away from home. 
•    Babson is 9-0 this fall when recording more blocks than its opponents, although La Verne ranks first in Division III in blocks per set (2.71) while CMS ranks sixth (2.53). 
•    The Green and White ranks ninth in Division III in hitting percentage (.253) and is 66-1 over the last four seasons when hitting .200 or better. 
•    The Beavers are 12-0 this season when claiming the first set. 

UP NEXT
•    Following its weekend in SoCal, Babson resumes NEWMAC play at WPI next Wednesday at 6 p.m.