Babson Tops Wellesley Tennis, 5-2, to Advance to NEWMAC Final

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Second-seeded Babson College tennis earned a 5-2 victory over third-seeded Wellesley College on Saturday afternoon in the semifinals of the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) women's tennis tournament at MIT's DuPont Tennis Courts. The Beavers improve to 11-1 on the year with the victory, while Wellesley ends the fall season with an 8-4 mark.

Babson advances to take on either top-seeded MIT or fourth seeded Mount Holyoke in the NEWMAC Championships match, tomorrow, October 25, at 1:00 PM at MIT.

The Beavers opened the match by taking a 2-1 lead in doubles. Babson secured the victory at #1 Doubles thanks to an 8-2 victory by sophomores Yagmur Akgul (Istanbul, Turkey) and Jenny Quenard (St.-Legier, Switzerland) over Wellesley juniors Andjela Stojkovic (Victoria, British Columbia) and Carina Chen (Hong Kong). The Beavers then went on to earn an 8-4 win at number three doubles, as Chloe Brandt (Denver, Colo.) and Eleni Gianelos (West Chester, Pa.) got the better of Rosanne Hu (Troy, Texas) and Tristan Lorich (New York, N.Y.) in a matchup of first year players.

Wellesley pulled out the win at #2 Doubles, staying in the match thanks to an 8-4 victory by sophomore Emily Olson (La Jolla, Calif.) and first year Justine Huang (Coto de Caza, Calif.) over Babson junior Dina Weick (Woodbridge, Conn.) and senior Tori Paolino (East Orleans, Mass.).

Olson would add another victory in singles play, taking a 6-2, 6-4 decision over Paolino at #4 Singles. However, Babson went on to win three matches in singles to close out the 5-2 win and advance to tomorrow's final.  

Akgul took a hard fought decision over Chen, 6-3, 6-4, in the #1 Singles match-up before Babson also secured victories at #3 and #5 Singles. At #3, Quenard opened with a 6-2 win over Stojkovic before finishing with a 6-1 win in the second set. Weick then capped the Babson win with a 6-3, 6-2 triumph over Lorich at #5. 

Wellesley will return to the courts in the spring, as they are set to travel to Tyler (Texas) for a 4:00 PM match on March 23.