The Middlebury volleyball team (18-4) split a pair of matches on the second day of the New England Challenge on Saturday. The Panthers fell 3-1 to 18th-ranked Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), before edging Babson 3-2 in a five-set thriller later in the day. Middlebury entertains Williams on Friday at 7:30 p.m., before wrapping up regular-season play on Saturday hosting Hamilton at 2:00 p.m. 
 
In the first match of the day, the Panthers jumped out to a 7-3 lead highlighted by a pair of service aces by Ali Wheeler. MIT (22-2) crawled its way back, eventually knotting the match at 11-11, before taking a one-point edge (14-13) on a pair of Middlebury errors. Tied 14-14, the Engineers went on an 8-0 run to take a 22-14 lead, and secured the 25-21 win. 
 
The Panthers took a 6-3 edge in the second set, highlighted by a trio of kills from Corley Doyle. Tied at 15-15 later on, MIT tallied six of the next seven points to take a 21-16 lead. The teams traded the next four points before a kill from Maggie Wise and a block by Doyle and Gabbie O'Toole brought Middlebury within three (23-20). The Engineers held strong, taking the set 25-21 capped on a kill by Allison Bratley.
 
In the third set, it was MIT who got the early advantage, jumping out to a 7-3 lead. Trailing 13-7, Middlebury scored six unanswered points to knot the match 13-13. Later, the Panthers took advantage of a pair of Engineer errors to take a 21-17 edge, before winning the set 25-21 to force a fourth set.
 
MIT responded in the final frame, taking an early lead and never looking back. The Engineers tallied eight-straight points to close out the set 25-13 and solidify the 3-1 victory. 
 
Wise led Middlebury with 12 kills, with Doyle contributing 11. Katie Kraczkowsky dug up 15 balls for the Panthers, while O'Toole tallied 33 assists. 
 
Gragg led all players with 16 kills, while Annie Bryan recorded 15. Emily Cheng recorded a match-high 44 assists, while Octavia Personeni had 26 digs. 
 
In the second match of the day, Babson (19-6) jumped out to a 14-9 lead, before the Panthers battled back to tie it up at 14 points a piece. The match was tied four more times before it was knotted at 20-20. A block by O'Toole and a pair of kills by Wise gave Middlebury a 23-20 edge en route to a 25-22 victory.
 
Babson responded in the second set, scoring eight of the first nine points to take an 8-1 advantage. The Beavers never tailed during the frame as they earned the 25-21 victory. 
 
Middlebury took a 7-3 advantage in the third stanza and never looked back, cruising to a 25-18 victory. 
 
The fourth set was a back-and-forth affair early on, with the score tied five times before Babson was able to take a sizable lead. Knotted 7-7, the Beavers scored six of the next eight points, taking a 13-8 advantage. Allie Puccio was stellar down the stretch for Babson, recording four of the final five kills, as the Beavers won 25-15 to force a fifth set.
 
In the final frame, four-straight Babson errors gave Middlebury a 7-3 lead. The Beavers responded with six-straight points to take an 8-7 edge. Tied at 9-9, Wise and Lucy Ambach tallied a pair of kills to give the Panthers an 11-9 lead, but the Beavers knotted the match 11-11. Middlebury took a 13-11 edge, but Babson wouldn't go away, pulling within one point on two occasions, before a Beaver error and a kill by Doyle secured the 15-13 victory.
 
Wise led all players with 20 kills, Kelly Ferrero recorded a game-high 24 digs and O'Toole tallied a match-high 46 assists. Doyle, Ambach and O'Toole each had a trio of blocks during the victory for the Panthers.
 
Puccio had 14 kills, Tatum Stetler dug up a team-high 19 balls and Caroline Applewhite recorded 24 assists for the Beavers.