BABSON PARK, Mass. – First-year Mary Donahue (Braintree, Mass.) continued her torrid hitting with 16 kills and only one error to lead the regionally-ranked Babson College women's volleyball team to a 3-0 victory over visiting Mount Holyoke College in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) matchup at Staake Gymnasium on Tuesday night.
With the win, the Beavers, ranked 10th in New England in the most recent NEWVA poll, improved to 10-3 overall and 3-1 in the NEWMAC. Mount Holyoke dipped 2-6 overall and 0-4 in league play.
Donahue led all players with 16 kills and a .577 hitting percentage, while fellow first-year Alicia Wilde (Franklin, Mass.) added eight errorless kills for a .444 mark. Senior Ashley Strangio (Rockville Centre, N.Y.) also had a big night for the Beavers, hitting .333 with seven kills, and junior Christina Cervini (Shrewsbury, Mass.) contributed six kills.
Also in the win for Babson, senior captain Kathleen Lynch (Quincy, Mass.) dished out a match-high 38 assists, sophomore Kseniya Stepanova (Upland, Calif.) recorded 11 digs and two service aces, and junior Karla Flores (San Juan, Puerto Rico) and sophomore Brianna San Diego (Daly City, Calif.) each joined Lynch with 10 digs apiece. Sophomore Elizabeth Sullivan (Quincy, Mass.) chipped in with three aces for the Beavers, who hit .317 as a team.
Mount Holyoke was paced by junior Martina Kneifel (Oro Valley, Ariz.), who recorded seven kills and 12 digs, and first-year Emma Sweeting (Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y.) and junior Kristina Weld (Warwick, Mass.), who each added four kills. Sophomore libero Kaleen Iwema (Wadsworth, Ill.) anchored the Lyons' defense with a match-high 20 digs, and first-year setter Gaby Harrigan (San Juan, Puerto Rico) amassed 12 assists.
Babson never trailed in the opening set, scoring the first three points and later adding an 8-2 run that turned a slim 5-4 advantage into a 13-6 lead. Mount Holyoke hung tough and still trailed by the same six-point margin at 16-10 later in the set, but the Beavers embarked on a 9-4 burst to close out the frame, 25-14.
Mount Holyoke came out strong in set two, opening with an 8-3 run that featured two kills by Kneifel and another by junior Galina Thieme (Hamburg, Germany). However, Babson slowly chipped away at the Lyons' lead until consecutive aces by Stepanova put the hosts back in front, 18-17. Mount Holyoke would regain the lead, 19-18, following two straight Beaver errors, but Sullivan served up a pair of aces as part of a 7-1 run that wrapped up the second set, 25-20.
The Lyons jumped in front again in set three, using a Babson service error and an ace from Sweeting to take a 2-0 lead, but the Beavers would dominate from that point on. A 12-2 run that featured three kills apiece from Donahue and Strangio and two more kills from Cervini would give the hosts a commanding 12-4 advantage, and Mount Holyoke would get no closer than seven the rest of the way as Babson clinched the set and the match, 25-10.
Photo courtesy of Frank Poulin.
