BABSON PARK, Mass. - Despite rallying to win the first set, the Skidmore College women's volleyball team lost to Stevens Tech, 3-1 (27-29, 25-18, 25-19, 25-19) in the opening match of the Babson Invitational on Friday evening.  

Skidmore will play host Babson College on Saturday at 1 p.m. and will close the tournament immediately after against Susquehanna University. 

Skidmore drops to 10-11 while Stevens continues its strong play to improve to 17-3. 

Zoe Beals posted 16.0 points with 14 kills, four blocks, one assist, and a pair of digs. Sophie Sacco had a match-high six blocks, with seven kills without an error for a .500 hitting percentage. Chelsea Winegar also had seven kills. She also had 11 digs.  Jessica Shulman led the match with five service aces. Audrey Powell finished with 20 assists, while Elizabeth Miller had 15 digs.  

Liz Patterson led Stevens with a match-high 15 kills. Elle Maggio posted 10 kills and Parker Adkins had nine. As a team, the Ducks hit .235 (55 kills with 24 errors). Kathleen Riegner had 26 assists and Elizabeth Chiu finished with 21 digs.    

Skidmore snagged the first set thanks to three-straight points to bounce back from being down set point. A kill from Grace Aronson and one from Winegar sealed it. Stevens got eight points in a row in the second set to take a stranglehold on it and eventually fend off a Thoroughbred push to knot the match up at one.  

A late 7-1 run in the third set helped the Ducks take control of the match before building a healthy lead in the clincher despite a 6-1 Skidmore run to pull within three.