Babson Park, Mass. - Senior captain Kathleen Lynch (Quincy, Mass.) celebrated her final collegiate home match with 43 assists as the Babson College women's volleyball team closed out the regular season with a 3-0 (25-15, 25-15, 25-17) sweep of visiting Clark University in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) contest at Staake Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon.

With the victory, the Beavers, ranked 15th in New England in the latest NEWVA poll, improved to 22-7 overall and 4-5 in league play - tying the program's single-season record for wins. Babson also secured the sixth and final spot in next week's NEWMAC Tournament, meaning the Beavers will be on the road for their first-round match on Tuesday night.

With the loss, Clark sees its season come to an end with a record of 10-15 overall and 2-7 in the NEWMAC.

Already the program's all-time assists leader, Lynch dished out 43 more to pace the Beavers, pushing her career total to 3,597. Fellow seniors Cathy Tinker (Woodbridge, Conn.) and Ashley Strangio (Rockville Centre, N.Y.) also played well on their final regular season home match, combining for six kills and two blocks. Together, the trio led Babson to 62 wins over the last four seasons - the most by any one class since 1996.

Also on Saturday, Beavers first-year Mary Donahue (Braintree, Mass.) continued her offensive dominance by hitting .615 with a match-high 19 kills and only three errors on 26 attempts.

Clark was led by first-year Shannon Glass-Smythe (Albuquerque, N.M.), who recorded eight kills and six digs, and junior Rachel Spera (North Hollywood, Calif.), who had three errorless kills to go with 18 assists and six digs.

First-year Anne Read (Arundel, Maine) also had three errorless kills while pacing the Cougars with three block assists, sophomore Mel Conde (Union City, Calif.) posted five kills and eight digs, and sophomore Savonnah Rowe (New York, N.Y.) added five kills and seven digs.

Babson jumped out to a quick 10-2 lead in the opening set behind six early kills from Donahue, and a Tinker kill later in the frame expanded the lead to nine at 13-4. The Cougars eventually pulled to within five after a Spera kill and back-to-back Babson errors made it 14-9, but a kill by Strangio sparked an 7-1 burst that increased the hosts' advantage to 21-10. Donahue later posted three straight kills to make it 24-13, and three points later a Clark service error capped the 25-15 Beaver win.

Set two saw Clark take its only lead of the afternoon when Spera fed Rowe for a kill and an early 4-3 edge. However, Babson rattled off five straight points - including another kill by Tinker - to go up 8-4, and the lead would continue to expand as the Beavers went up by as many as 11 before taking the set, 25-15.

Babson threatened to pull away again early in the third set, as three quick kills from Donahue provided an early 5-2 advantage. However, Clark stayed close throughout the frame and still trailed by just three after a Beaver error made it 18-15. Babson then finally pulled away, closing the set and the match with a 7-2 run - including back-to-back kills by Robertson that sealed the 25-17 victory.