No. 3 Wellesley Tennis Falls to No. 2 Babson in NEWMAC Semifinals, 5-0

BABSON PARK, Mass. – No. 2 seeded Babson College defeated No. 3 seeded Wellesley College, 5-0, in the semifinals of the NEWMAC Women's Tennis Championship tournament on Saturday afternoon at the Babson Tennis Courts.

The Beavers (13-5 Overall) advanced to face top-seeded MIT in tomorrow's NEWMAC Championship match in Cambridge, Mass.

Babson swept doubles to jump to a 3-0 lead. Junior Olivia Soffer (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) and sophomore Matia Cristiani (San Salvador, El Salvador) picked up Babson's first point at No. 1 doubles, defeating Wellesley seniors Annissa Mu (Saratoga, Calif.) and Melinda Alviar (Indianapolis, Ind.), 8-2. Babson senior Juliette Moschella (Little Silver, N.J.) and first year Dana Kamal (Cairo, Egypt) made it 2-0 with an 8-3 win over Wellesley first years Lily Cade (Minneapolis, Minn.) and Kriti Sarav (Chicago, Ill.) at No. 3 doubles.

The Beavers finished off the doubles sweep with an 8-5 victory at No. 2 doubles. First year Chaniel Soffer (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) and sophomore Elena Keitt (Austin, Texas) took control of a back and forth match to get past Wellesley sophomore Emilee Pak (Chicago, Ill.) and first year Suzanne Xu (Boyds, Md.).

In singles, Olivia Soffer increased Babson's advantage in the match to 4-0 with a 6-0, 6-0 sweep of Mu at No. 1 singles. The Beavers finished off the sweep when Cristiani defeated Xu at No.2 singles, 6-2, 6-0. 

Wellesley finishes the 2023-24 campaign with a 13-6 overall record, advancing to the NEWMAC semifinals for the fifth time in the past five competitive seasons.