Men's Tennis
at Boston College | Friday, February 18 | 3 p.m. | Flynn Recreation Complex | Chestnut Hill, Mass.
vs. Franklin Pierce | Sunday, February 20 | 1 p.m. | Kingsbury Club | Medfield, Mass.

WHAT TO KNOW
• The Babson men's tennis team opens the spring portion of its 2021-22 schedule with a pair matches over Presidents' Day weekend.
• The Beavers travel to Chestnut Hill to face ACC foe Boston College on Friday afternoon before hosting Division II Franklin Pierce at the Kingsbury Club in Medfield, Mass., on Sunday afternoon.

SERIES HISTORY
vs. Boston College
• Babson is 0-1 against the Eagles after dropping a 7-0 decision in Chestnut Hill on March 31, 2017.

vs. Franklin Pierce
• Babson won the only previous meeting between the teams, 5-4, on October 4, 2019, in Rindge, N.H.

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• Babson (1-0) cruised a 6-1 win over Holy Cross in its only dual match of the fall on September 15.
• Sophomore Gabriel Cestero and first-years Ole Lepsoe, Brady Anderson and Wesley Zhang all recorded victories in both singles and doubles for the Beavers.
• The Green and White returns six of its top seven players after going 7-1 and reaching the third round of the NCAA Tournament last spring.
• Senior Kian Yazdi earned NEWMAC Player of the Year honors and went 4-0 at number one singles. He finished the season ranked 12th in the northeast region and 48th in Division III by the ITA.

SCOUTING THE EAGLES
• Boston College (2-2) has won its last two matches and is coming off a 5-2 victory over Brown back on February 9.
• Max Motlagh and Juan Jose Bianchi, who are ranked 21st in Division I in doubles, won 6-3 at number one and were two of four players to post straight-set victories in doubles for the Eagles.
• Motlagh, Bianchi and Kasten have all won their last three singles matches, while the top pairing of Motlagh and Bianchi has gone 3-1 to open the spring in doubles.
• Boston College begins ACC play with matches at Wake Forest and NC State on February 26-27.

SCOUTING THE RAVENS
• Franklin Pierce (3-0) kicks off the spring portion of its schedule against Brandeis before taking on the Beavers on Sunday.
• The Ravens wrapped up the fall with a 6-1 win over Post back on October 17.
• Ivan Bernal is 7-1 in all singles matches with two wins at number four, while Kevin Denecheau has gone 6-1 overall and 3-0 in dual-match play.
• Alejandro Ortiz and Nkrumah Patrick are 2-1 at number one singles and went 5-3 in all matches in the fall.

TOP JUNIORS
• The Beavers will rely on a strong junior class in 2021, led by Jason Weisman and Maxwell Conlin. Weisman was an All-NEWMAC singles first team selection who finished 4-1 on the season, mostly at No. 2 singles, as well as 4-3 at No. 2 doubles. Conlin played mostly at No. 3 singles, finishing 3-1, and No. 1 doubles.
• Jack MacDonald provided strength at the bottom of the lineup, finishing 4-0 and was a winner at No. 6 singles in Babson's NCAA Tournament win over Stevenson. Parker Law (5-1) and Sebastian Bucarion (3-1) were also solid doubles players in the Beaver lineup.

A LOOK AHEAD
• Four of the Beavers' 17 spring matches will come against teams that were ranked in the final 2021 ITA top 40 poll -- No. 23 Rensselaer, No. 3 Washington U. of St. Louis, No. 12 Tufts and No. 7 Brandeis.
• A trip to California during spring break highlights the schedule before the conference slate begins in April.

NEWMAC POLL
• Babson finished second when the NEWMAC announced its preseason coaches' poll last week. The Beavers earned one first-place vote and finished behind MIT, which did not compete last spring and had its run of 21 straight conference tournament titles snapped.

UP NEXT
• The Beavers host Rensselaer at the Kingsbury Club in Medfield, Mass., on Saturday, February 26.