BABSON PARK, Mass.—Junior
Olivia Soffer (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) and sophomore
Matia Cristiani (San Salvador, El Salvador) recorded victories in both singles and doubles to help 19th-ranked and second-seeded Babson College defeat third-seeded Wellesley College, 5-0, in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Tournament semifinal on Saturday afternoon at the Babson Tennis Courts.
Babson, which has won four straight matches, improves to 13-5 on the year while advancing to the final for the sixth consecutive NEWMAC Tournament. Wellesley sees its season come to a close at 13-6.
The Beavers swept doubles to jump to a 3-0 lead.
Olivia Soffer and Cristiani picked up Babson's first point at number one, defeating Wellesley seniors Annissa Mu (Saratoga, Calif.) and Melinda Alviar (Indianapolis, Ind.), 8-2. Babson senior
Juliette Moschella (Little Silver, N.J.) and first year
Dana Kamal (Cairo, Egypt) made it 2-0 with an 8-3 win over Wellesley first years Lily Cade (Minneapolis, Minn.) and Kriti Sarav (Chicago, Ill.) at number three.
The Beavers finished off the doubles sweep with an 8-5 victory at number two as first year
Chaniel Soffer (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) and sophomore
Elena Keitt (Austin, Texas) took control of a back and forth match to get past Wellesley sophomore Emilee Pak (Chicago, Ill.) and first year Suzanne Xu (Boyds, Md.).
In singles,
Olivia Soffer increased Babson's advantage in the match to 4-0 with a 6-0, 6-0 sweep of Mu at number one before Cristiani earned the decisive point by defeating Xu at No.2 singles, 6-2, 6-0.
Babson will travel to Cambridge for the NEWMAC Tournament final against No. 10 and top-seeded MIT on Sunday at 11 a.m.
MATCH NOTES
• The Beavers are 6-7 all-time against Wellesley in the postseason, which includes four consecutive semifinal victories.
• Cristiani's 52 combined singles and doubles victories this spring are just two shy of the single-season record of 54 set by
Olivia Soffer last year.
• Babson has now led after doubles in 15 of 18 matches this season.
• The Beavers have won their last 14 matches played at the Babson Tennis Courts dating back to the 2022 NEWMAC Tournament.
