Friday, October 18
Men's Tennis vs. Emerson | 12 p.m. | Babson Park, Mass. | Babson Tennis Courts
at Clark | 4 p.m. | Worcester, Mass. | Corash Tennis Courts

WHAT TO KNOW
•    The Babson men's tennis team will play its first dual matches of the 2024-25 campaign when it faces NEWMAC foes Emerson and Clark on Friday afternoon.
•    The Beavers host the Lions at 12 p.m. before making the short drive to Worcester for a date with the Cougars at 4 p.m. 

SERIES HISTORY
vs. Emerson
•    Babson is 13-0 all-time against the Lions in a series that dates back to 2008. 
•    Eight of the Beavers' last 10 victories over the Lions have come by a score of 9-0. 
•    Junior Martin Mejia and sophomore Mattias Harrell both recorded points in singles and doubles to help the Green and White win last year's match, 8-1, on October 5 in Babson Park. 

vs. Clark 
•    Babson is 33-2 all-time against Clark in a series that goes back to 1997.
•    The Beavers have won 14 consecutive matches versus the Cougars since 2013 with five of the last six coming by a score of 9-0. 
•    Seniors Ole Lepsoe and Wesley Zhang and sophomore Brandon Reznik all produced points in both singles and doubles for the Green and White, which won all six singles matches in straight sets in a 9-0 triumph over Clark on March 23 of last year. 

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
•    Babson (0-0, 0-0 NEWMAC) returns nine players from a team that reached the NEWMAC Tournament final and finished with an overall record of 14-9 last season. 
•    Sophomore Kerem Ozlale, the reigning NEWMAC Rookie of the Year, went 16-8 and Lepsoe finished 9-3 on the way to earning all-conference singles honors last spring, while junior Wesley Zhang finished the spring with a 7-5 mark on the way to garnering all-league doubles accolades. 
•    First-year Edward Wang is 9-0 this fall and captured the B draw at the ITA New England Championships back on September 29, while Harrell, junior Alexander Merson and first-year Sebastian Mendoza have all won three times in tournament play this fall. 
•    The pairings of Merson and Wang and Mendoza and first-year Mason Nguyen are both 4-3 in doubles, while Lepsoe and senior Brady Anderson are 3-5. 

SCOUTING THE LIONS
•    Emerson (2-2, 0-0 NEWMAC) is coming off a 6-1 loss at Gordon back on October 5. 
•    Filippo Nocchi registered the lone point of the day for the Lions with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 victory at number one singles. 
•    Nocchi is 4-0 at number one singles, Connor Leung is 3-1 at number two singles and Garrett Cozen is 2-2 at number five this fall. 
•    Nocchi and Leung have gone 2-2 at number one doubles, while the duo of Cameron McAllister and Noah Mesaros is 3-1 at number two. 
•    Emerson went 6-12 overall and 1-6 in NEWMAC play last season. 

SCOUTING THE COUGARS
•    Clark (1-3, 0-0 NEWMAC) has dropped three straight matches and is coming off a 4-3 setback at Nichols on October 8. 
•    Edward Shepherd-Johnson and Aris Kirkorian recorded straight-set wins at first and second singles, while Drew Morris rallied for a 3-6, 7-5, 10-3 victory at number four singles for the Cougars, who dropped the lone doubles point. 
•    Six different players have recorded a singles victory this fall, highlighted by two wins at number one by Shepherd-Johnson and triumphs at both five and six by Graham Russo. 
•    Shepherd-Johnson and Aris Kirkorian have recorded a pair of wins at number one doubles for the Clark, which is 5-7 as a team through four matches. 

FINAL RANKINGS
•    Thanks to wins over top-25 foes Gustavus Adolphus and Mary Washington, the Beavers ended the 2023-24 campaign ranked 31st in the ITA Division III poll. 
•    In addition to the team ranking, Ozlale earned the program's highest individual ranking (38th) since Marcus Nordby finished the pandemic-shortened season of 2020 at No. 20. 

WHAT'S NEW FOR 2024-25
•    The ITA and NCAA have adopted a new 7-point scoring format for dual matches this season that includes just one point for doubles. 
•    All doubles matches will be played to 6 points with a 7-point tiebreaker at 6-all. 
•    Singles matches will continue to be the best two-out-of-three sets. 

 UP NEXT
•    The Beavers, who conclude their fall season with Friday's doubleheader, begin the spring portion of their schedule on February 2 against Bryant and Nichols in Cumberland, R.I.