Box Score LOS ANGELES—First-year Chaniel Soffer (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) secured the clinching point in a third-set tiebreaker to help No. 13 Babson College defeat No. 14 University of the South, 5-4, in non-conference women's tennis action on Thursday afternoon on the campus of Occidental College. 

With the win, Babson improves to 4-0 on the year. Sewanee, which has dropped two straight matches, slips to 5-6 overall. 

The Beavers picked up the first point of the match at number three doubles as sophomores Laetitia Rizk (Beirut, Lebanon) and Elena Keitt (Austin, Texas) defeated senior Nicole Nowak (Alabaster, Ala.) and first-year Mariella Congeni (New Orleans, La.), 8-6. The Tigers evened things up at number two where juniors Ansley Carpenter (Newnan, Ga.) and Sarah Livingston (Fairfax, Va.) edged senior Adèle Fernández (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico) and Chaniel Soffer, 8-6. 

Babson was able to take a 2-1 lead into singles play as the nation's second-ranked duo of junior Olivia Soffer (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) and sophomore Matia Cristiani (San Salvado, El Salvador) edged Sewanee's third-ranked pairing of senior Katherine Petty (Dallas, Texas) and junior Brooke Despriet (Cumming, Ga.) in a tiebrakers, 8-7 (7-4). 

Cristiani gave the Green and White a 3-1 advantage in the match with a 6-1, 6-0 triumph over Despriet at number two singles before Sewanee tied things up thanks to victories by Congeni and Nowak. Congeni downed Beavers' sophomore Mariana Campos (Houston, Texas) 6-2, 6-3 at number five and Nowak was a 6-2, 7-6 (7-1) winner over senior Juliette Moschella (Little Silver, N.J.) at number six. 

The Tigers went in front 4-3 when Carpenter beat Rizk 7-5, 6-2 at number four before Olivia Soffer topped Petty 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 at number one to make it 4-4. Chaniel Soffer and Livingston split the first two sets in the decisive match that went the distance at number four singles. 

Down 5-4 in the third, Soffer won two straight games and was up 40-15 before Livingston fought off three match points to force a tiebreaker. The players stayed on serve over the first five points before Soffer won consecutive points on the serve of Livingston to go up 5-2. Livingston broke back to get within in 5-4 but Soffer won the final two points to secure a 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (7-4) victory that clinched the match. 

Babson concludes its trip to southern California on Friday against No. 28 Bowdoin at 3 p.m. EDT. Sewanee hosts No. 34 Colby on March 25. 

MATCH NOTES
•    The Beavers are now 1-3 all-time against Sewanee. 
•    Thursday's match between Olivia Soffer and Cristiani against Petty and Despriet was a rematch of last May's NCAA Doubles final won by the Sewanee duo, 6-4, 6-2. 
•    Babson is 7-2 versus nationally-ranked opponents over the last two seasons.