WELLESLEY, Mass. – Wellesley College volleyball was edged by cross-town rival Babson College in a tightly contested NEWMAC match Tuesday night at Dorothy Towne Fieldhouse. Babson won 3-1 (23-25, 25-23, 33-31, 25-21).
Sophomore Kate Giang (Corte Madera, Calif.) led the Blue (6-3 Overall, 1-2 NEWMAC) with 18 kills to go with 16 digs and three blocks. Junior Kaija Kunze-Hoeg (Eagan, Minn.) posted a match-high 24 digs. First-year Else Kunze-Hoeg (Eagan, Minn.) tallied 21 assists, 18 digs and five aces. First-year Ella Mancuso (North Andover, Mass.) tied a career-high with 11 kills.
Junior Isabella Allen (Williamsville, N.Y.) led the Beavers (12-1 Overall, 3-0 NEWMAC) with 18 kills. Gips hit .485 to finish with 17 kills. Junior Sophia Shaw (Novato, Calif.) had a team best 23 digs. Sophomore Zoe Ackerman (Aurora, Calif.) ran the offense with 50 assists.
The Blue began the match on a 4-0 run, which included three kills by Giang. Babson took its first lead at 13-12 after a kill by senior Lauren Gips (Winter Park, Fla.). Wellesley tied the score at 15-15, but the Beavers used a 7-2 spurt to go in front 22-17. The Blue rallied with 7-0 run, capped by a pair of aces from Else Kunze-Hoeg, for a 24-22 lead. After Babson scored the next point, sophomore Evelyn Hill (Rocklin, Calif.) clinched the set for the Blue, 25-23, with her second kill. Three Beavers had four kills apiece, while Giang led the Blue with five.
In a back and forth second set that featured eight ties, neither team was able to take more than a 3-point lead. The Blue trailed 23-21 but pulled even after a Babson error and an ace by sophomore Noelle Winn (San Francisco, Calif.). The visitors scored the next two points to close the set at 25-23 and even the match at 1-1. Wellesley had 14 kills but 10 errors in the set, while Babson finished with 10 kills and three errors.
The third stanza was a rollercoaster, finishing 33-31 in Babson's favor.Neither team led by more than five, with the Blue reaching the 20 mark when the Beavers had 17. Wellesley briefly had a set point at 24-23. The team struggled for the set, alternating one point advantages on eight occasions before a kill from Sofia Ibarra (Coral Gables, Fla.) to clinch the 33-31 frame.
The Beavers went up 7-3 in the fourth before the Blue tied it up with a 4-0 run. The teams alternated short runs before Wellesley strung six points together to lead 19-16. Babson tied it up at 19-19 before exploding for five points. A Gips kill sealed the match for the Beavers.
Babson finished the match with 59 kills, narrowly ahead of Wellesley's 56. The Blue put up 13 kills while each team had 10 blocks.
The Blue travel to Brandeis University for a non-conference match on Saturday, October 5 at 12:00 PM. The Beavers welcome St. Michael's College on Friday, October 4 at 7:00 PM.
