BABSON PARK, Mass.—Senior
Hailey Fouche (Montclair, N.J.) and junior
Angelina Holm (Denver, Colo.) each record 10 kills and two blocks while combining for a .514 hitting percentage to help No. 19 Babson College defeat visiting Wheaton College in three sets (25-17, 25-16, 25-19) in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) women's volleyball action on Tuesday night inside Staake Gymnasium.
With its fourth consecutive victory, Babson improves to 9-1 overall and begins conference play at 1-0. Wheaton has dropped its last three matches to slip to 4-8 overall and 0-1 in the league.
Sophomores
Devon Burke (Newtonville, Mass.) and
Ailsa Munro (Sylmar, Calif.) both had five kills, senior
Zoe Ackerman (Aurora, Colo.) handed out 33 assists and junior
Sabina Frosk (Coppell, Texas) led all players with a season-high 18 digs and two service aces for the Beavers. First-years
Julia Garcia (Belo Horizonte, Brazil) and
Maya Foley (Allentown, N.J.) also provided two blocks apiece in the victory.
Senior Mary Caroline Mazzanti (New Orleans, La.) registered nine kills and first-year Eliana Inch (Mechanicsburg, Pa.) added six kills to pace the Lyons. Senior Ajsa Orban (Budapest, Hungary) and sophomore Emily Cordell (Crawfordville, Fla.) dished out 14 and 10 assists, respectively, while first-year Maddy Botelho (Swansea, Mass.) finished with a team-high 10 digs.
The Green and White hit .353 in the opening set and used a 7-1 spurt that included two kills by Munro, another by Burke and a block and a kill by Holm to build a 15-7 lead. The Beavers stretched the margin to as many as nine after a block by Munro and Fouche and Burke provided a pair of late kills to close out the game.
Babson used a four-point run that included kills by Garcia and Fouche to forge a 15-9 advantage in the second and then used a 6-1 run to extend their lead to as many as eight after Wheaton had closed within three. Munro put away two kills around a bad set by the Lyons to make it 20-14 and Frosk followed up kills by Ackerman and senior
Nora Whitehurst (Atlanta, Ga.) to push the margin to 23-15.
The Beavers led by as many as five early in game three before the visitors stormed back with an 8-3 spurt to pull even at 18 thanks to a service ace by sophomore Molly Gleason (Martsons Mills, Mass.). The Green and White answered right back though, taking the lead on a Wheaton attack error before Fouche and Foley combined for four kills and a block in the span of six points to complete the sweep.
Both teams return to action on Saturday as Babson hosts Smith at 2 p.m. while Wheaton faces Wellesley at 12 p.m.
MATCH NOTES
• The Beavers are now 25-32 all-time against Wheaton and have won nine straight and 13 of the last 14 matches between the teams going back to 2013.
• Babson has won its NEWMAC opener in each of the last 13 seasons (excluding 2020), a streak that dates back to 2012.
• The Green and White is 39-3 inside Staake Gymnasium since the start of the 2023 campaign.
• The Beavers, who hit .275 in Tuesday's victory, are now 62-1 over the last four seasons when hitting .200 or better.
