No. 18 Women's Tennis at No. 11 MIT
Friday, April 19 | 3:30 p.m. 
DuPont Tennis Courts | Cambridge, Mass.

No. 18 Women's Tennis vs. Springfield
Saturday, April 20 | 2 p.m. 
Babson Tennis Courts | Babson Park, Mass. 

WHAT TO KNOW
• No. 18 Babson will travel to No. 11 MIT on Friday for a NEWMAC showdown featuring the last two undefeated conference teams with the top seed in the post-season tournament on the line.
• The Beavers will also host Springfield on Saturday in the first of three home matches to wrap up the regular season.

SERIES HISTORY
vs. MIT
• Babson and MIT will meet for the 58th time on Sunday in a series that dates back to the 1979-80 campaign.
• The Beavers are 7-50 all-time against the Engineers and last year's 6-3 regular season triumph for Babson was its first win in the series since October 2014.
vs. Springfield
• Babson is 27-4 against Springfield in a series that dates back to 1995.
• The Beavers have won 26 straight matches in the series since 2000, and the Pride haven't captured more than one point in the last 13 match-ups.

LAST MEETING
vs. MIT
• Junior Olivia Soffer and sophomore Matia Cristiani both recorded singles wins in the top two flights but ninth-ranked Babson suffered a 5-3 loss to sixth-ranked MIT in the NEWMAC Tournament final on April 30, 2023 in Manchester-By-The-Sea, Mass.
• The teams split the first two doubles matches as MIT sophomore Alaina Kolli and Caroline Vincent '23M won at number two and Babson senior Adèle Fernández and sophomore Elena Keitt were victorious at number three. Sarah Pertsemlidis '23 and junior Jay Lu rallied for an 8-6 victory at number three to give MIT a 2-1 lead.
• Soffer rebounded with a decisive 6-4, 6-0 win over Pertsemlidis at number one singles, Kolli earned her second point of the match for MIT with a win at number four before Cristiani won the battle at number two to even the match at 3-3. Lu won a three-set decision at number three for MIT and Sara Fernandez '23 secured the decisive point for the Engineers with an easy victory at number six. 
vs. Springfield
• Seniors Juliette Moschella and Fernández and sophomores Kamila Stasiowska and Keitt were all winners in both singles and doubles as No. 18 Babson blew past Springfield, 9-0, on April 6, 2023, at the Appleton Courts in Springfield.
• Cristiani and senior Jane Wang also posted singles wins for the Beavers, and Morgan Mann '23 and sophomore Grace Starcher teamed together for a doubles win in the Beaver victory.

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• No. 18 Babson (9-4, 5-0 NEWMAC) has won its last two matches, including a 9-0 sweep of Clark in a NEWMAC match Tuesday in Worcester.
• Wang, Keitt, junior Laetitia Rizk, sophomore Mariana Campos, and first-year Dana Kamal were all double winners for the Beavers, while first-year Chaniel Soffer took the number one singles match and sophomore Shyla Khattar was on the winning tandem with Rizk at number two doubles.
• Olivia Soffer (15-2) is 9-1 in dual matches at number one singles while Cristiani (21-1) is 9-0 at number two and has won 10 straight matches. Rizk (8-7) is third on the team in singles wins, followed by Chaniel Soffer (7-7), Campos (7-5), and Moschella (7-4).
• O. Soffer and Cristiani (23-2), ranked No. 2 in Division III doubles, have won nine of their last 10 matches. Fernández and C. Soffer have posted an 10-5 doubles record, including 7-3 in dual matches.

SCOUTING THE ENGINEERS
• No. 11 MIT (10-3, 5-0 NEWMAC) is riding a five-match winning streak after a 9-0 victory over Springfield on Tuesday. All three of MIT's losses have come to teams ranked in the top six in the ITA Division III poll.
• The Engineers got points in both singles and doubles from Lu, Kolli, and first-years Katya Shepherd Johnson, Saina Deshpande, and Anastasia Samets. Sophomore Artemis Pados teamed with Kolli for a win at number one doubles and first-year Sophia Min took the battle at number six singles.
• Shepherd Johnson (8-3) has all of her wins at number one singles and senior Kimberly Liao (5-4) has all of her wins at number two. Kolli (8-3) and Samets (8-4) are tied with Shepherd Johnson for most singles wins while Lu (7-2) has her wins at both number two and three singles.
• Kolli and Pados (11-2) have won nine in a row at number one or two doubles while Samets and Deshpande (8-1) have all of their wins at number three.

SCOUTING THE PRIDE
• Springfield (3-10, 3-3 NEWMAC) suffered a 9-0 loss to No. 19 MIT on Tuesday after defeating Clark last Saturday by the same score.
• First-year Kapom Vettayawaikoon and junior Ramida Manataweewat were winners in the top two singles flights against Clark and also teamed up for a win at number one doubles. Graduate student Veronica Fulgieri won at three singles and teamed up senior Kate Rosselli for a win at second doubles.
• Sophomores Alysa Elliott and Kelly McGoldrick captured verdicts at four and five singles, respectively, as well as number three doubles, and first-year Natalia Peyon completed the sweep with a win at six singles.
• Elliott and McGoldrick lead the team with three singles wins apiece.

REGIONAL RANKINGS
• Babson is eighth in the latest ITA Northeast Region team rankings while MIT is one spot ahead in seventh, released on April 10.
• Soffer is the top-ranked singles player in the region and Cristiani is fourth for the Beavers, while Shepherd Johnson is ranked third for MIT.
• Soffer and Cristiani are the top-ranked doubles team in the region while Lu and Liao are ranked 10th for the Engineers.

RANKED OPPONENTS
• The Beavers are 4-4 against ranked teams, with wins over No. 27 Caltech (7-2), No. 10 Redlands (5-4), No. 14 Sewanee (5-4) and No. 28 Brandeis, and losses to No. 28 Bowdoin (6-3), No. 24 Tufts (5-4), No. 3 Emory (6-3) and No. 12 Trinity, Texas (5-4).

CHECKING THE STANDINGS
• Babson (5-0) and MIT (5-0) are deadlocked atop the NEWMAC standings with four matches remaining.
• Smith (4-2), Wellesley (2-1) and Mount Holyoke (3-2) are battling for the next three spots, while Springfield (3-3) and Salve Regina (2-3) in contention for the final playoff berth.

RECORD IN REACH
• Olivia Soffer, who is already the program's all-time leader in singles (67) and combined victories (126), enters the weekend just one win shy of matching the Beavers' all-time record for doubles wins. 
• One more doubles victory would match the program's all-time record of 60 set by Francesca Russo '06 from 2002-06.

CLIMBING THE RANKS
• Cristiani moved into 10th place with 92 career victories over her first two seasons at Babson.
• Her 45-3 record in singles has her tied for eighth on the Beavers' all-time wins list and her 47 doubles wins are just outside the top 10.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
• Babson has posted an 20-2 regular season record against NEWMAC foes over the past four seasons, and a 49-7 mark going back to 2015.
• The Beavers have led after doubles in 11 of their 13 matches this season. 
• The Green and White is 8-0 on the year when it records victories at both fourth and sixth singles. 

UP NEXT
• The Beavers will play their final two regular season matches at home next week, hosting Wheaton on Tuesday and Wellesley next Saturday.