BABSON PARK, Mass.--Senior
Hailey Fouche (Montclair, N.J.) led all players with a season-high 15 kills and sophomore
Devon Burke (Newtonville, Mass.) provided 10 kills while hitting .391 to help 22nd-ranked Babson College defeat visiting UMass Dartmouth in four sets, 25-20, 18-25, 25-21, 25-14, in the opening match of the New England Fall Classic on Friday inside Staake Gymnasium.
With the win, Babson improves to 6-1 while UMass Dartmouth slips to 5-4 on the year with the loss.
Fouche finished with a .344 hitting percentage and added two blocks, sophomore
Ailsa Munro (Sylmar, Calif.) registered eight blocks to go along with three blocks and a .412 hitting percentage, and senior
Zoe Ackerman (Aurora, Colo.) contributed a season-high 41 assists to go along with seven digs, five service aces and three blocks to pace the Beavers. Junior
Sabina Frosk (Coppell, Texas) recorded a season-high 16 digs and first-year
Sara Arango (Miami, Fla.) chipped in with 11 digs int eh victory.
Senior Allison Pate (Sebring, Fla.) provided 10 kills and 11 digs, junior Olivia Seutter (Mesa, Ariz.) produced eight kills and three blocks and senior Skye Peters (Albuquerque, N.M.) handed out 26 assists to go along with 10 digs to lead the Corsairs. First-year Brooke Harrington (Walpole, Mass.) led all players with 18 digs in the loss.
The Green and White led by as many as four on two occasions in the opening set before closing the game with a 6-1 spurt. Ackerman sandwiched an ace in between a pair of kills by Munro to make it 22-19, Burke followed with a kill and Ackerman served up another ace to make it 24-19 on the way to a 1-0 edge in the match.
UMass Dartmouth rebounded in game two recording nine kills while taking advantage of nine errors by the Beavers to even the match at a set apiece. Babson answered back in game three though, racing out to a 14-4 lead thanks to two kills apiece by Fouche and Burke and a pair of service aces by first-year
Lia Gonzalez (Miami, Fla.). The Corsairs closed the gap to 19-16 before the Green and White pulled away for a 25-20 win.
The teams traded the first 14 points of game four before back-to-back blocks by Munro and Ackerman sparked a 14-3 run that gave the Beavers a double-digit advantage. Fouche and Munro also combiend for five kills during the spurt as the hosts hit .444 in the frame.
Both teams return to action on Saturday beginning at 12:30 p.m. as Babson hosts Union and William Smith, while UMass Dartmouth takes on Endicott and Brandeis.
MATCH NOTES
• The Beavers are now 13-11 all-time against UMass Dartmouth and have won seven consecutive matches in the all-time series.
• With Friday's win, Babson improved to 36-3 inside Staake Gymnasium dating back to 2023.
• The Green and White is 6-0 this season and 27-4 going back to the start of last season when claiming the first set.
• The Beavers are 11-2 over the last two years in four-set matches.
