CAMBRIDGE, Mass.— No. 32 Babson College split the six singles matches but couldn't overcome losses in all three doubles encounters, dropping a 6-3 decision to No. 29 MIT in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) men's tennis action Wednesday afternoon at the DuPont Tennis Courts.
With the loss, Babson had a three-match winning streak snapped and dropped to 7-8 overall and 3-1 in conference play while MIT won for the eighth time in its last nine matches to improve to 10-3 overall and 3-0 in the NEWMAC.
The Beavers picked up singles wins from junior
Ole Lepsoe (Oslo, Norway) in the second flight, senior
Jose Gonzalez (Mexico City, Mexico) at number five and junior
Wesley Zhang (Staten Island, N.Y.) in three sets at number six. Senior Kailas Kahler (Pawtucket, R.I.) was the only one to capture victories in both singles and doubles for MIT, winning at number three doubles and number one singles.
The Engineers took control in the doubles portion of the match. Graduate student Daniel Papacica (Carmel, Calif.) and first-year Grant Gallagher (Irvine, Calif.) edged Babson graduate student
Andrew Watson (Charlottesville, Va.) and first-year
Caymus Choi (Hong Kong, China) at number one, 8-6; seniors Sundeep Chakladar (Redondo Beach, Calif.) and Joseph Li (Naperville, Ill.) got past Lepsoe and first-year
Kerem Ozlale (Istanbu, Turkey) at number two, 8-6; and Kahler and first-year Shrish Choudhary (Fremont, Calif.) rolled past Zhang and first-year
Logan Back (Busan, South Korea) at number three, 8-2.
Kahler posted a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Ozlale at number one to open the singles scoring, and junior Ryan Xiao (Cary, N.C.) clinched the team victory for MIT with a 6-3, 6-1 triumph over Choi at number three. Lepsoe gave Babson its first win with a 6-3, 6-2 verdict over Papacica at number two, but first-year Siddharth Marathe (Pune, India) outlasted Watson in a third-set super-breaker at number four, 6-4, 4-6, 10-8. Gonzalez and Zhang rounded out the scoring with victories for the Green and White, Gonzalez downing Choudhary at number five, 6-2, 6-2, and Zhang defeating Li at number six, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3.
The Beavers return home to host local rival Brandeis on Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Babson Tennis Courts. MIT hosts Skidmore on Friday at 3:30 p.m. at the Du Pont Tennis Courts.
