ITHACA, NY – The Johns Hopkins volleyball program suffered its first loss of the 2026 campaign Friday evening, falling to Babson, 3-0 (25-20, 25-23, 25-11), in the opening match of the Bomber Invitational, hosted by Ithaca inside Ben Light Gymnasium.
The Blue Jays (3-1) fell behind 4-0 to open the match, but a pair of Babson errors helped Hopkins settle in and cut the deficit to 4-2. The Beavers (3-1) responded by extending their advantage to 13-6 before Hopkins put together a three-point run, sparked by a
Josephine Kinlan kill, to pull within four at 13-9. Babson quickly regained control, pushing its lead back to six at 16-10.
Back-to-back kills from
Ivy Swafford trimmed the deficit to 17-14, but the Beavers answered with a late 5-0 run to earn set point at 24-18. Hopkins fought off two set points before a Blue Jay error gave Babson the opening-set victory, 25-20.
Babson again jumped out to an early advantage in the second set, taking a 4-1 lead. Hopkins responded with a four-point run sparked by a
Jocelyn Pye kill, moving in front 9-8. The Beavers regained momentum, however, using an 8-1 run to take a 17-12 lead.
Following a timeout, the Blue Jays battled back with four straight points, sparked by another Swafford kill, to pull within 19-17. A
Celine Ebert block at the net later trimmed the deficit to one at 22-21, but Babson held off the comeback attempt to claim the set, 25-23, and take a 2-0 lead into the final set.
Hopkins opened the third set by falling behind 2-0 before responding with six consecutive points to take a 6-2 lead, capped by a
Jordan Price kill. The Beavers answered with a 6-0 run of their own to move back in front, 8-6, and never relinquished control. Babson closed the match with an 11-0 run to secure the 25-11 set victory and hand the Blue Jays their first loss of the season.
Kinlan led the Hopkins attack with a team-high nine kills and added eight digs, while Swafford contributed seven kills and seven digs.
Annika Anderson paced the Blue Jays with 13 assists, with
Sami Hockers adding 10 assists.
Nicole Tuszynski anchored the defensive effort with a team-best 10 digs, while Swafford finished with two blocks.
The Blue Jays return to action Saturday with a pair of matches at the Bomber Invitational. Hopkins will face host and 12th-ranked Ithaca at 11 a.m. before closing out the tournament against 13th-ranked Carnegie Mellon at 3 p.m.
