Women's Volleyball at the Bomber Invitational
Friday, September 11 | vs. No. 9 Johns Hopkins, 6:30 p.m.
Saturday, September 12 | vs. No. 13 Carnegie Mellon, 1 p.m. | at No. 12 Ithaca, 5 p.m.
Ben Light Gymnasium | Ithaca, N.Y. 

WHAT TO KNOW
•    The Babson women's volleyball team travels to Ithaca, N.Y., to face a trio of nationally-ranked opponents at the Bomber Invitational on Friday and Saturday. 
•    The Beavers face No. 9 Johns Hopkins for the second year in a row to begin the weekend before taking on 13th-ranked Carnegie Mellon and the 12th-ranked host Bombers on Saturday. 

SERIES HISTORY
vs. Johns Hopkins
•    The Beavers are 0-1 all-time against the Blue Jays after dropping a 29-27, 18-25, 20-25, 14-25 decision at the Greg " Gio" Giovanazzi Memorial Tournament on August 30, 2025, in Baltimore, Md. 

vs. Carnegie Mellon
•    First meeting

vs. Ithaca
•    Babson is 0-3 all-time against the Bombers in a series that dates back to 2015. 
•    Each of the last two meetings between the teams have come in the NCAA Tournament with Ithaca defeating Babson in four sets in the 2017 regional final in Potsdam, N.Y. and recording a three-set victory in the second round of the 2023 championship inside Ben Light Gymnasium. 

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
•    Babson (3-0) has not dropped a set over its first three matches after defeating Lasell 25-17, 27-25, 25-16 in Tuesday's home opener. 
•    Senior Hailey Fouche led all players with 11 kills, first-year Lia Gonzalez provided nine kills and senior Zoe Ackerman finished with a season-high 36 assists, four digs, three kills and two blocks for the Beavers, who hit .413 on the night. 
•    Gonzalez is averaging 4.33 kills per set and hitting .590 over the first three matches, Fouche (3.22 k/s) boasts a .453 hitting percentage and sophomore Liberty May (2.14 k/s) is hitting .394 and leads the team with 11 service aces. 
•    Junior Angelina Holm is averaging 1.71 kills and a team-high 0.86 blocks per set, Ackerman is handing out 10.67 assists per set and junior Sabina Frosk leads the defense in both total digs (28) and digs per set (3.11). 

SCOUTING THE BLUE JAYS
•    No. 9 Johns Hopkins (3-0) concluded its opening weekend tournament with a 25-19, 25-18, 25-22 victory over William Paterson last Saturday. 
•    Celine Ebert led all players with 11 kills, Ivy Swafford contributed eight kills, seven digs, four service aces and three blocks, and the duo of Annika Anderson and Sami Hockers combined for 29 assists for the Blue Jays, who have held their first three opponents to a .119 hitting percentage. 
•    Swafford (3.90 k/s, 2.40 d/s) is hitting .267, Ebert (3.20 k/s, 0.80 b/s) is hitting .253 and Josephine Kinlan is averaging 2.70 kills and 3.40 digs per set. 
•    Anderson is averaging 6.30 assists per set, Hockers is handing out 4.38 assists and Nicole Tuszynski is contributing a team-high 3.70 digs per set. 

SCOUTING THE TARTANS
•    No. 13 Carnegie Mellon (4-0) has dropped just one set over its first four matches and is coming off a 25-22, 25-22, 25-18 victory over DePauw last Saturday.
•    Kate Giang led all players with 13 kills and added 10 digs, Sophie Pan and Caroline Smith provided 10 kills apiece, and Neha Tummala chipped with 21 assists and eight digs for the Tartans, who have limited their first four opponents to just a .110 hitting percentage. 
•    Giang (4.31 k/s, 3.00 d/s) is hitting .268, Smith (2.46 k/s, 1.31 b/s) boasts a .443 hitting percentage and Pan is averaging 2.31 kills and a .247 hitting percentage this fall. 
•    Tummala and Dani Lee are combining to hand out 11.05 assists per set, while Zoe Gavros is averaging 5.05 digs set. 

SCOUTING THE BOMBERS
•    No. 12 Ithaca (3-1) bounced back from a four-set loss to Tufts by defeating Scranton 3-0 at the Scranton Invitational last Sunday. 
•    Addison Leadbetter (19) and Brianna Owen (17) combined for 36 kills, Wesley Slavin handed out 42 assists and Jamie Low contributed 19 digs for the Bombers, who hit .320 and made just 11 errors in the win. 
•    Owen (3.57 k/s, .423 hitting pct.) and Naomi Clauhs (3.43 k/s, .311 hitting pct.) have combined to make just 12 errors in 239 attack attempts, while Leadbetter is averaging 2.93 kills per set and 1.07 blocks per set to go along with a .414 hitting percentage. 
•    Elena Chappell is averaging a team-high 1.15 blocks per game, Slavin is handing out 10.86 assists per set and Low (4.29 d/s) has at least 15 digs in all four matches to start the year. 

ACKERMAN JOINS RARE COMPANY
•    With 30 assists apiece in last Saturday's wins over Neumann and Roger Williams, Ackerman joined Elizabeth Cameron '20 (3,912) and Kathleen Lynch '13 (3,631) as the only three setters in program history with more than 3,000 assists. 
•    Ackerman, who enters the weekend, with 3,061 assists, is one of just two players along with Cameron to surpass 1,000 assists in multiple seasons, and set a new single-season program record with 1,086 over 31 matches last fall. 

TRENDS TO WATCH
•    Over the first three matches of her career entering the weekend, Gonzalez has recorded at least seven kills in every contest while making a total of just three errors in 39 swings. 
•    Fouche has at least seven kills in all three matches to start the year and has recorded 10 or more kills in five of her last six outings going back to last season, while sophomore Devon Burke has provided 11 kills against just two errors for a .296 hitting percentage in six sets. 
•    Sophomore Misaki Harte is second on the team with 10 service aces and has produced at least two in five straight matches going back to last year's NCAA Tournament.
•    Ackerman, who ranks fifth in Babson history with 187 career service aces, has registered at least one in 21 of the last 22 matches dating back to last year. 
•    Holm, who finished with 93 total blocks last fall, has at least one in nine straight contests going back to last November. 

BEAVERS SET FOR CHALLENGES AHEAD
•    Tuesday's win over Lasell began a stretch of seven matches that will see the Beavers take on five opponents that reached last year's NCAA Tournament.
•    Johns Hopkins and Carnegie Mellon both advanced to their respective regional finals, Ithaca suffered a five-set loss to Wesleyan in the second round and William Smith, which will visit Babson Park next weekend, also reached the Round of 32 before falling to the aforementioned Blue Jays. 
•    In addition to this weekend's trio of matches, Babson is also set to face No. 11 La Verne and No. 18 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in California in early October, as well as No. 10 MIT and No. 21 Tufts over the span of five days in late October. 

NUMBERS TO KNOW
•    The Beavers are 57-1 since the start of the 2023 campaign when hitting .200 or better, and 49-1 during this same stretch when their foes finish with a hitting percentage of .150 or lower. 
•    Babson has recorded more kills than its opponents in each of its last 28 wins going back to the end of 2024.
•    The Green and White is 24-4 since the start of last year when claiming the first set. 
•    The Beavers are 17-7 in road and neutral court matches dating back to the start of last season. 

UP NEXT
•    Babson returns to Staake Gymnasium to host the New England Fall Classic on September 18-19.