Blue Tennis Falls 7-2 to Babson in Regular Season Finale

BABSON Park, Mass. – No. 44 Wellesley College tennis concluded the regular season with a 7-2 NEWMAC setback to No. 21 Babson College on Saturday. Wellesley clinched the No. 3 seed in the NEWMAC with the loss while Babson takes the No. 2 seed. The Blue will host No. 6 Springfield on Tuesday, April 30. Babson will face the winner of that match on Saturday, May 4.

The Beavers (12-5 Overall, 8-1 NEWMAC) started the match by claiming two of the three points in doubles. Junior Olivia Soffer (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) and sophomore Matia Cristiani (San Salvador, El Salvador) gave Babson its first point with a convincing 8-1 win over seniors Annissa Mu (Saratoga, Calif.) and Melinda Alviar (Indianapolis, Ind.) at No. 1 doubles. Babson also took No. 3 doubles with a score of 8-2. Senior Juliette Moschella (Little Silver, N.J.) and first year Dana Kamal (Cairo, Egypt) defeated first years Lily Cade (Minneapolis, Minn.) and Kriti Sarav (Chicago, Ill.)

Wellesley got the win at No. 2 doubles. Sophomore Emilee Pak (Chicago, Ill.) and first year Suzanne Xu (Boyds, Md.) played rock solid to take an 8-3 decision over first year Chaniel Soffer (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) and sophomore Elena Keitt (Austin, Texas).

O. Soffer grabbed a 6-1, 6-2 win over Mu at No. 1 singles to push the Beavers' lead to 3-1. Cristiani, Keitt and Moschella sealed the Babson victory with wins at No. 2, 5 and 6 singles. Cristiani took out Xu 6-0, 6-2 at No. 2 singles. Keitt and Moschella had identical scores over first year Veda Madhusudan (Short Hills, N.J.) and Sarav and No. 5 and 6 singles.

C. Soffer added a 6-3, 6-4 win against Alviar at No. 3 singles. Pak helped the Blue avoid a singles sweep with a gritty 6-1, 2-6, 6-1 three-setter at No. 4 singles over sophomore Mariana Campos (Houston, Texas).