WELLESLEY, Mass. – The Wellesley College volleyball team needed five sets to top cross-town and NEWMAC-rival Babson on Tuesday evening, escaping with a 3-2 win over the Beavers at the Keohane Sports Center. The Blue dropped the first two sets before rallying for a 23-25, 19-25, 25-23, 25-20, 15-13 victory. The win improves Wellesley's season mark to 17-1 (5-0 NEWMAC), while Babson dips to 13-4 (3-2 NEWMAC) with the loss. 

Set one featured 10 lead changes, with neither team holding more than a three-point advantage. Wellesley held a late 22-20 edge after a Babson error, but was unable to capitalize, missing the next service attempt. After trading sideouts to make it 23-22 in favor of Wellesley, Babson took over as Krissy Robertson sandwiched a kill between two Wellesley hitting errors to hand Babson the set, 25-23.

Babson carried the momentum into set two, opening up an 8-5 lead, punctuated by a service ace from Elizabeth Sullivan. Wellesley battled back to knot the set at 12-12 on a tip from Hilary Ayers. Babson, however, re-gained control, as the Blue were hampered by poor hitting, recording a -.047 hitting percentage in the set. Babson used tough blocking down the stretch and sealed the 25-19 set victory on a Mary Donahue kill.

Set three was another back-and-forth affair, as the lead changed hands five times before Wellesley gained a late 20-17 lead on a Babson attack error. The Beavers responded with two kills from Donahue but consecutive Babson errors gave Wellesley some breathing room at 23-19. After another Wellesley service mistake, Babson used a three-point run to knot the set at 23-23. The Blue, however, sealed the win with a Babson error and an ace from Ayers to get back into the match with a 25-23 set win.

Babson threatened to close out the match in the fourth set, edging to a 16-12 lead midway through the game as they capitalized on back-to-back kills from Donahue. But the Blue responded with a four-point run, including a Sydney Carfagno ace and an Isabel Custodio kill, to tie the game at 16-16. The Blue then used two Beaver mistakes and kill from Kellyn O'Brady to build a 20-17 lead enroute to a 25-20 win.

In the fifth and deciding set, the teams traded sideouts until a Donahue kill gave Babson a narrow 10-8 advantage. The Blue answered with three straight kills from Carfagno to take a 12-11 lead. Another Donahue kill knotted the score at 12-12, but the Blue sealed the win with kills from Custodio and Ali Binney for the 15-13 victory.

Donahue led the Beavers at the net with 20 kills on 61 attempts, while Robertson added 11. Babson dominated the net for much of the match, as Ashley Strangio totaled eight blocks and Robertson and Kathleen Lynch tallied six each. The Beavers were led in the backcourt by Karla Flores with 18 digs and Elizabeth Sullivan with 14. Lynch recorded 40 assists in the loss.

For the Blue, Custodio notched her third triple-double in the last four matches, with 25 assists, 14 digs, 11 kills, and four blocks. Carfagno had another solid match, totaling 21 kills, 17 digs, and 4 blocks on the night. Hu led all players with 24 digs, while Ayers recorded 22 assists and an ace in the win.

Babson returns to action on Thursday, October 4, at 7pm, when they host Southern Maine in a non-conference match. Wellesley will travel to Philadelphia this weekend for the Seven Sisters Tournament. The Blue open on Saturday at 10am, when they play the hosts, Bryn Mawr.