WELLESLEY, Mass.—Senior
Hailey Fouche (Montclair, N.J.) put away 11 kills and junior
Sabina Frosk (Coppell, Texas) recorded a season-high 21 digs as No. 20 Babson College defeated Wellesley College in four sets, 25-14, 23-25, 25-14, 25-17, in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) women's volleyball action on Tuesday night inside Dorothy Towne Fieldhouse.
Babson, which has won five of its last six matches, improves to 10-2 overall and 2-1 in conference play. Wellesley suffered just its second loss in its last nine contests to drop to 7-4 overall and 1-2 in the NEWMAC.
Fouche made just one error and hit .435 to go along with five blocks, sophomore
Devon Burke (Newtonville, Mass.) finished with 10 kills and a .400 hitting percentage, and classmate
Ailsa Munro (Sylmar, Calif.) added eight kills to pace the Beavers. Senior
Zoe Ackerman (Aurora, Colo.) handed out 33 assists, first-year
Sara Arango (Miami, Fla.) had 10 digs and junior
Angelina Holm (Denver, Colo.) led all players with seven blocks and four service aces.
First-year Delia Noel (Telluride, Colo.) recorded 11 kills and eight digs, junior Else Kunze-Hoeg (Eagan, Minn.) finished with 10 kills, 20 assists and 11 digs, and senior Evelyn Hill (Rocklin, Calif.) added eight kills to lead the Blue, which hit just .060 in the loss.
Fouche registered four of the team's seven kills, the Green and White served up five aces and also took advantage of nine attack errors by the hosts in an easy first-set win. The Beavers got a pair of kills from Munro and back-to-back aces by Arango to forge a 10-5 lead early in the second and were still up 18-15 following a kill by Burke before Wellesley got kills from three different players and a block by Kunze-Hoeg and junior Sarah Jin (San Jose, Calif.) to cap a 6-1 run that put it in front 21-19.
Ackerman followed up kills by Fouche and senior
Nora Whitehurst (Atlanta, Ga.) with an ace to make it 23-all, but Kunze-Hoeg answered with a kill and the Blue used an attack error by the visitors to even the match at a set apiece.
The Green and White wasted little time re-establishing control as Munro provided two kills and Holm and Fouche combined for a pair of blocks as part of a 10-2 spurt to start game three. Ackerman registered consecutive aces to extend the margin to 16-8 and Burke provided a pair of kills as the Beavers answered a four-point run by Wellesley by reeling off five straight points for a 23-13 edge.
Babson trailed just once in the fourth and created separation with a seven-point run that included a kill by Burke and three blocks from Holm to make it 16-7. The Beavers hit .292 in the frame and took advantage of nine attack errors by the Blue to close out the victory.
Both teams return to action on Saturday as Babson travels to Coast Guard at 12 p.m. while Wellesley pays a visit to Salve Regina at 1 p.m.
MATCH NOTES
• The Beavers have won eight in a row and 12 of their last 13 matches against Wellesley to improve to 14-34 in the all-time series.
• Fouche has recorded double-digit kills in 13 of Babson's last 15 matches dating back to November of last year.
• The Green and White, which finished with a .287 hitting percentage in Tuesday's victory, is now 9-0 this season and 142-5 going back to 2018 when hitting .200 or better.
• The Beavers are now 16-5 in road and neutral-court matches over the last calendar year.
