NORTHAMPTON, Mass. — Smith College Volleyball (24-4, 8-1 NEWMAC) hosts No. 13 MIT (20-4, 7-2 NEWMAC) at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 3, at Ainsworth Gymnasium. The Bears are receiving votes in the AVCA poll and share first place in the NEWMAC with Babson going into the final week of the regular season.
MIT at Smith
Tuesday, Nov. 3 | 6 p.m.
Ainsworth Gymnasium | Northampton, Mass.
SERIES HISTORY
MIT leads the all-time series 62-20 in a matchup that dates back to 1977. Smith's only win over MIT since 2005 came in the 2024 NEWMAC championship match. The Bears beat the top-seeded Engineers 25-17, 21-25, 25-21, 16-25, 15-11 at Rockwell Cage on Nov. 17, 2024, which sent them to the NCAA Division III Championship. Smith is 15-35 at home in the series. Its last home win came 3-0 on Oct. 22, 2005.
LAST MEETING
MIT swept Smith 25-9, 25-21, 26-24 at Rockwell Cage on Nov. 4, 2025. The Bears led 14-11 in the second set and 17-15 in the third before the Engineers rallied. Ali Gibbs closed the match with back-to-back kills. Alison Chapin (Temecula, CA/Temecula Valley High School) had nine kills for Smith. Abby Hunt (Mandeville, LA/Fontainebleau) hit .368 with seven kills and two blocks, and Addison Klunder (Los Angeles, CA/The Buckley School) added seven kills and three block assists. Hana Suzuki (Chattanooga, TN/East Hamilton High School) handed out 16 assists with two aces. MIT hit .354 with 45 kills.
SCOUTING THE BEARS
Smith has won three straight matches and nine consecutive sets. It swept Mount Holyoke on Oct. 27, then beat Keene State 25-19, 25-17, 25-22 and Westfield State 25-16, 25-17, 25-21 on Senior Day on Saturday. The Bears hit .448 against Keene State. Anna Feuer (Frederick, MD/Governor Thomas Johnson) posted five kills, four aces and six blocks against Westfield State.
Chapin leads Smith with 256 kills, or 3.24 per set, and 296.5 points. Feuer is hitting .403 with 182 kills and leads the team with 108 blocks, or 1.26 per set. Mia Etheridge (Half Moon Bay, CA/Half Moon Bay) has 187 kills and 170 digs, Klunder has 144 kills and Uma Schulz (Riverwoods, IL/Deerfield High School) has 139. Skye Higashihara (Honolulu, HI/'Iolani School) has 485 assists. Suzuki has 375 assists and a team-high 53 aces. Ruth Tullis (Edmond, OK/Oklahoma Christian School) leads the back row with 217 digs and a .930 reception percentage. Smith is hitting .256 and holding opponents to .124.
SCOUTING THE ENGINEERS
MIT has won three straight. On Saturday in Cambridge it rallied from a set down to beat Coast Guard 19-25, 25-22, 25-17, 25-15. Eileen Sadati had 14 kills, hit .379 and served six aces. Brennan Fritts added 14 kills, 12 digs and five blocks, and Kayleigh May posted 49 assists. The Engineers swept then-No. 2 Colby on Oct. 3. All four of their losses came in four sets:
- then-No. 11 Ithaca on Sept. 18
- at Springfield on Oct. 17
- Babson on Oct. 20
- Tufts on Oct. 24
Sadati leads MIT with 242 kills, or 2.85 per set. Sabine Smith averages a team-best 4.07 kills per set, with 232 kills in 57 sets. Julia Tolstova adds 195 kills and 191 digs. May averages 10.14 assists per set and reached 3,000 career assists on Oct. 6. Sophia Song leads the back row with 377 digs, or 4.33 per set. Miller Grimes is hitting .321 with a team-high 63 blocks. MIT is hitting .233 and holding opponents to .151.
COMMON GROUND
Smith won 3-1 at Babson on Sept. 26 and 3-1 at Springfield on Sept. 29. MIT lost 3-1 to both. MIT swept Emerson on Oct. 13, a week before the Lions beat Smith 3-1 in Boston. Smith swept Coast Guard on Sept. 22, and MIT beat the Bears from New London 3-1 on Saturday. Both teams swept Wheaton, Salve Regina, Mount Holyoke and Lasell. Both also beat WPI: Smith 3-1 and MIT 3-0. MIT swept Wellesley on Oct. 27, and Smith hosts the Blue on Saturday.
BEAR BITES
Smith and Babson are tied for first in the NEWMAC at 8-1. MIT, Emerson and Springfield are one match back at 7-2. Tuesday is the second-to-last NEWMAC regular-season match for both teams: Smith hosts Wellesley and MIT hosts Clark on Saturday. Smith is 12-2 at home this season. The Bears have 256 aces to their opponents' 165 and average 2.2 blocks per set. MIT's opponents have outblocked the Engineers 158.5-133.
NUMBERS TO KNOW
62-20: MIT's lead in the all-time series
2005: Smith's last home win over MIT
9: Consecutive sets won by Smith
.403: Feuer's hitting percentage
4.33: Song's digs per set
UP NEXT
Smith hosts Wellesley in its regular-season finale at noon Saturday, Nov. 7, at Ainsworth Gymnasium.
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.
