ITHACA, N.Y.—Senior
Hailey Fouche (Montclair, N.J.) led all players with 12 kills and six blocks and classmate
Zoe Ackerman (Aurora, Colo.) provided 29 assists, 12 digs and five service aces to help Babson College defeat No. 9 Johns Hopkins University in three sets, 25-20, 25-23, 25-11, on the opening night of the Bomber Invitational inside Ben Light Gymnasium on Friday.
With the victory, Babson improves to 4-0 for the third time since 2021 while recording its first victory over a top-10 opponent in program history. Johns Hopkins is now 3-1 on the year after suffering its first loss.
Fouche hit .320, sophomore
Liberty May (Grapevine, Texas) recorded seven kills and three aces, and classmate
Devon Burke (Newtonville, Mass.) added six kills against just one error in eight swings to end the night with a .625 hitting percentage to pace the Beavers. Sophomore
Ailsa Munro (Sylmar, Calif.) registered a season-high four blocks, junior
Sabina Frosk (Coppell, Texas) finished with eight digs and first-years
Sara Arango (Miami, Fla.) and
Lia Gonzalez (Miami, Fla.) chipped in with seven digs apiece in the victory.
Graduate student Josephine Kinlan (New York, N.Y.) recorded nine kills and eight digs, senior Ivy Swafford (Johnson City, Texas) added seven kills, seven digs and two blocks, and junior Annika Anderson (Marina Del Ray, Calif.) contributed 13 assists and seven digs to lead the Blue Jays.
The Green and White led throughout the opening set and jumped out to a quick 10-4 lead thanks to a pair of early blocks and two kills apiece by Burke and May. Junior
Angelina Holm (Denver, Colo.) extended the margin to 12-5 with a kill and an ace before Johns Hopkins rallied to pull within on at 19-18 on a kill by first-year Sami Hockers (Muskego, Wis.).
Munro answered with a kill and Fouche added two of her own during a five-point spurt that gave the Beavers a 24-18 lead they would not relinquish.
Game two featured four ties and a pair of early lead changes before Babson went in front for good with another five-point run that included a pair of kills by Fouche. Down as many as six at 19-13 after a kill by Fouche, the Blue Jays twice pulled within one late in the frame before the Beavers answered with a block by Fouche and Munro to regain a 24-21 edge and got another kill from Fouche three points later to close out the set.
Babson trailed 6-2 early in game three before outscoring Johns Hopkins 23-5 over the remainder of the frame to complete the sweep. The Green and White took the lead thanks to five straight points on the serve of Frosk and scored the final 11 points of the set, which included five aces by Ackerman and a pair of kills from Burke.
Both teams will play twice on Saturday as Babson faces No. 13 Carnegie Mellon at 1 p.m. and No. 12 Ithaca at 5 p.m., while Johns Hopkins meets the host Bombers at 11 a.m. and Carnegie Mellon at 3 p.m.
MATCH NOTES
• The Beavers are now 1-1 all-time against Johns Hopkins and Friday's victory avenges last year's four-set loss in Baltimore, Md.
• Babson limited the Blue Jays to a .080 hitting percentage to improve to 50-1 going back to the start of 2023 when holding its foes below .150.
• Fouche has recorded double-digit kills in six of her last seven matches going back to November of last season.
• Ackerman's five service aces on Friday gives her 192 for her career, tying her for fourth all-time alongside former teammate Tatum Stelter '25.
