NORTHAMPTON, Mass. — Smith College Volleyball (15-1, 4-0 NEWMAC) hosts WPI (8-7, 2-2 NEWMAC) on Tuesday, Oct. 6, at 7 p.m. at Ainsworth Gym. The Bears enter on a six-match winning streak after sweeping Wheaton and Westfield State on Saturday, and they received votes in last week's AVCA Top 25 poll.
Smith vs. WPI
Tuesday, Oct. 6 | 7 p.m.
Ainsworth Gym | Northampton, Mass.
SERIES HISTORY
Smith leads the all-time series with WPI 30-11 in a matchup that dates back to 1985. The Bears have won the last three meetings and are 16-7 at home against the Engineers. Smith won 24 straight meetings from 1988 to 2009. WPI won six straight from 2014 to 2019 before Smith took four of the last five. The last time WPI visited Ainsworth, on Oct. 1, 2024, Smith won in three sets.
LAST MEETING
Smith won 3-1 (25-13, 25-22, 21-25, 25-16) at Harrington Auditorium in Worcester, Mass., on Oct. 2, 2025. The Bears recorded 49 kills and hit .252 while holding WPI to a -.015 hitting percentage. Smith served seven aces, opened the match on a 4-0 run and closed the first set on an ace by Alison Chapin (Temecula, CA/Temecula Valley High School).
SCOUTING THE BEARS
Smith has won six straight. It swept Wheaton 25-22, 25-18, 25-20 and Westfield State 25-16, 25-11, 25-22 on Saturday at Ainsworth Gym, serving 31 aces on the day, 12 against Wheaton and 19 against Westfield State. Anna Feuer (Frederick, MD/Governor Thomas Johnson) totaled 13 kills on 17 swings without an error (.765) across the two matches. Addison Klunder (Los Angeles, CA/The Buckley School) led the Bears with 16 kills and six aces. Hana Suzuki (Chattanooga, TN/East Hamilton High School) handed out 32 assists, Ruth Tullis (Edmond, OK/Oklahoma Christian School) had seven aces and 12 digs, and Chapin added six aces. Smith held Wheaton to a .133 hitting percentage and Westfield State to .120. Chapin leads the team with 145 kills, or 3.02 per set. Mia Etheridge (Half Moon Bay, CA/Half Moon Bay) adds 123 kills. Feuer leads the team with 63 blocks and is hitting .403. Skye Higashihara (Honolulu, HI/'Iolani School) directs the offense with 265 assists. Suzuki has 213 assists and leads the team with 27 aces. Tullis anchors the back row with 154 digs, or 3.42 per set.
SCOUTING THE ENGINEERS
WPI has won two straight. It swept Mount Holyoke on the road on Sept. 29 and beat Clark 25-13, 25-15, 25-17 on Senior Day on Saturday at Harrington Auditorium. The Engineers' NEWMAC losses came at No. 10 MIT, a sweep on Sept. 22, and at home against Springfield, 3-1, on Sept. 26. WPI was picked eighth in the NEWMAC preseason coaches' poll. Against Clark, Bridget Spees had nine kills, three aces and five digs, and Niki Szavuly added eight kills on .467 hitting with three aces. Olivia Hutchinson hit .600 with six kills. WPI hit .295 and served 10 aces in the match. Hutchinson leads the Engineers with 126 kills, or 2.47 per set, on .325 hitting and has 51 blocks. Spees has 122 kills, 171 digs and 22 aces. Szavuly leads the team with 27 aces and has 95 kills. Amelia Lynch runs the offense with 388 assists, or 7.19 per set. Jennah DiMartino leads the back row with 197 digs, or 3.65 per set.
COMMON GROUND
Smith beat Bridgewater State 3-2 at the Bonnie May Invitational on Sept. 4. WPI fell 3-1 to Bridgewater State at home on Sept. 1. Smith swept Worcester State on Sept. 5. WPI swept Worcester State on the road on Sept. 15. Smith won 3-1 at Springfield on Sept. 29. WPI lost 3-1 to Springfield at home on Sept. 26.
BEAR BITES
With the first set against Wheaton tied at 13, Chapin served four straight points, including back-to-back blocks by Uma Schulz (Riverwoods, IL/Deerfield High School), and ended the set with a kill. Feuer had four kills in a six-point run that put Smith up 6-1 in the second set against Wheaton, and Klunder later served three straight aces to turn a 15-13 lead into 18-13. Suzuki served six straight points with two aces to break a 7-7 tie in the third set against Wheaton, then served the final seven points of the second set against Westfield State.
Higashihara opened the Westfield State match with two aces. Tullis led the Bears with five aces in that match. First-year Stella Jones (Harrisonburg, VA/Spotswood High School) had seven kills on eight swings without an error against Westfield State.
NUMBERS TO KNOW
Smith is 7-0 at home, 3-0 in road matches and 5-1 at neutral sites this season. Smith averages 2.63 aces per set. WPI averages 2.20. Smith opponents are hitting .113 this season. Chapin averages 3.02 kills per set. Hutchinson leads WPI at 2.47.
UP NEXT
Smith travels to Newton, Mass., on Saturday, Oct. 10, for a tri-match at Lasell, facing New England College at 1 p.m. and Lasell at 3 p.m.
About Smith Athletics
Smith College is a NCAA Division III member of the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) that sponsors 11 intercollegiate sports. For more information, log on to GoSmithBears.com and follow the Bears on Facebook and Instagram.
