Box Score WELLESLEY, Mass. – Sydney Carfagno and Julia Adams combined for 20 kills as the Wellesley College volleyball team downed cross-town and NEWMAC-rival Babson, 3-1(25-16, 25-11, 24-26, 25-17), at Dorothy Towne Fieldhouse on Wednesday evening.
The Blue improve to 17-6 overall, 6-1 in NEWMAC play, while the Beavers fall to 12-11, 2-5 in the NEWMAC.
After back-and-forth action in set one, Wellesley pulled away with long serving runs from Adams and Amanda Duritsch. The Blue closed the set on a 16-6 run to earn the 25-16 win. Set two was all Wellesley, as the Blue built a 16-6 advantage, pulling away on six straight points with Carfagno on the line. An Adams kill then sealed the 25-11 set two victory, as the Blue went ahead 2-0.
Babson made things interesting in the third set, as tough serving from Kathleen Lynch and Brianna San Diego earned the Beavers a 26-24 victory. Lynch and San Diego each recorded three service aces in the stanza, closing the Blue's match advantage to 2-1.
In the fourth and deciding set, Babson opened with a 10-6 advantage before Wellesley battled back to tie the set at 12-12. Wellesley then went ahead 17-14, but a kill from Meg Flaherty and a Wellesley attack error narrowed the lead to 17-16. The Blue, however, scored six of the set's final seven points with Carfagno on the line to take the set, 25-17, and the match, 3-1.
Flaherty led the Babson attack with 14 kills on 45 attempts. Kseniya Stepanova added nine kills while Ashley Strangio chipped in four. Karla Flores and Stepanova played solid backrow for the Beavers, recording 19 and 14 digs respectively. Lynch dished out 25 assists in the loss.
For the Blue, Carfagno hammered 12 kills to lead the team. Adams racked up eight kills, while Duritsch and
Megan Mills added seven each.
Traci Hamanaka provided solid defense, tallying 17 digs on the night.
Isabel Custodio recorded 34 assists in the win.
Babson travels to Western Connecticut State on Friday for the two-day Colonial Classic Tournament. The Beavers open on Friday night at 7:30pm against Wesleyan. Wellesley returns to action tomorrow evening, October 19, at 7:30pm, when they host regional power UMass-Boston.
