Box Score BRUNSWICK, Maine—No. 16 Babson College played the first of two straight matches against foes ranked in the top five of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) national poll on Saturday as it suffered a 9-0 loss to No. 4 Bowdoin College in non-conference action inside the Maine Pines Tennis Club.  

Babson, which has dropped its last two matches, slips to 3-3 on the year while Bowdoin opens the spring at 1-0. 

The Polar Bears took control of the match with a three-point sweep in doubles. Graduate student Andrew Watson (Charlottesville, Va.) and junior Brady Anderson (Rochester, N.Y.) suffered an 8-5 loss to seniors Tristan Bradley (Chadds Ford, Pa.) and Reid Staples (Plano, Texas) at number one, junior Ole Lepsoe (Oslo, Norway) and first-year Caymus Choi (Hong Kong, China) were beaten 8-4 by senior Ethan Bradley (Chadds Ford, Pa.) and junior Pieter Breuker (Manchester, Mass.) at number two and junior Wesley Zhang (Staten Island, N.Y.) and sophomore Martin Mejia (Cali, Colombia) dropped an 8-4 decision at number three. 

The closest match in singles came at number four where Babson first-year Kerem Ozlale (Istanbul, Turkey) and Bowdoin sophomore Mark Kneiss (Athens, Greece) needed a third-set tiebreaker after splitting the first two sets. Kneiss outlasted Ozlale 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (11-9). 

Sophomore Andrew Mendelson (Los Angeles, Calif.) gave the Polar Bears their first singles point with a 6-4, 6-0 victory over Choi at number six, Breuker followed with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Zhang at number four and Tristan Bradley earned the decisive point by defeating Anderson, 6-3, 6-1, at number one. Senior Jose Gonazlez (Mexico City, Mexico) suffered a 6-1, 6-4 loss at number five and Lepsoe fell to the 25th-ranked Staples, 6-3, 6-3, at number two. 

Babson returns to action on Sunday when it faces No. 3 Tufts at 5 p.m. at the Bass River Tennis Center at 5 p.m.