MIDDLETOWN, Conn. - Colby outlasted No. 24 Babson in a five-set thriller in Middletown, 19–25, 25–16, 19–25, 25–10, 15–11, grinding through two momentum swings before flipping the match with a dominant finish.
The Beavers came out hot in the opener, siding out at will and riding a late serving surge—three aces in the final stretch—to close 25–19 despite steady Colby production on the pins. The Mules answered with a composed second set with a settled block, tight serve-receive, and an offense that spread out, turning a 9–9 start into a wire-to-wire 25–16 behind timely aces from
Gabby Grujic and
Sydney DeProfio and kills from
Cyanne Jones and
Alexa Peguero. Babson punched back in the third at .351, hitting to reclaim the lead, but Colby's response in the fourth was emphatic. The Mules throttled the frame 25–10, hitting .400 while holding Babson to negative, with
Alli McKenney's serve providing a strong lead and the front line—Jones,
Hayley Beigh,
Kendall Glover, and
Ingrid Zahn—stuffing lanes and turning first-ball digs from McKenney into clean transition kills. The race to 15 was all composure. Down 5–3 early, Colby leaned on first-contact poise and two-setter tempo to claw even at 10–10, then surged. A Peguero sideout, a forced error off Jones's pressure, and a pair of hammer swings from Glover pushed the Mules to the finish line; Glover delivered points 14 and 15 to seal it.
Across the night Colby simply wore Babson down: 59 kills to 50, .266 to .203 hitting, and an 11–9 edge at the net.
Brady Moseley set the tone on both sides of the ball with 14 kills and 14 digs, while Zahn and Glover each added nine more and were relentless in transition. Jones owned the middle of the court with eight blocks, Peguero and Beigh combined for seven more, and the setting tandem of DeProfio (23 assists, 12 digs) and Grujic (22 assists) kept Babson guessing by mixing quicks, back-slides, and high-ball releases to the antennas. McKenney's 12 digs and late-set serving runs steadied the floor at key moments.
Colby trailed twice in sets but trusted the block-defense engine to create extra swings, then cashed them in with cleaner first contact and terminal swings when it mattered most. With the 3–2 victory, the Mules advance to the NCAA Third Round on Saturday, November 22 at 5:00 p.m., where they'll face No. 12 Wesleyan at Silloway Gymnasium, carrying forward the same serve pressure, balance, and big-point toughness that decided the Babson match.
