REDLANDS, Calif. — The 17th-ranked Babson College women's tennis team suffered its first loss of the season to No. 8 Middlebury College, 5-2, on their spring break trip to California Wednesday afternoon at the University of Redlands' Coach Jim Verdieck Tennis Center.

With the loss, the Beavers drop to 2-1 on the season while the Panthers rebounded from their first setback of the year to improve to 5-1.

Senior Olivia Soffer (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) and junior Matia Cristiani (San Salvador, El Salvador) picked up the two points for Babson in the top two singles flights but were knocked off at number one doubles.

Senior Nathalie van der Reis (Miami, Fla.) and junior Lulu Wu (Tenafly, N.J.) were double winners for the Panthers, winning singles matches at numbers four and three, respectively, and teaming up for a win at third doubles. Senior Nina Farhat (Southborough, Mass.) also earned points in both singles and doubles in the victory.
 
The Panthers earned the first point of the match by sweeping the three doubles encounters. Senior Sahana Raman (Acton, Mass.) and Farhat, ranked 18th in Division III doubles, breezed past Olivia Soffer and Matia Cristiani in the top flight, 6-0, and van der Reis and Wu were too much for sophomore Dana Kamal (Cairo, Egypt) and junior Kamila Stasiowska (Burlington, Conn.) at number three, 6-2.
 
The closest doubles match came at number two, where the 21st ranked tandem of first-year Elsie Van Wieren (Ann Arbor, Mich.) and junior Charlotte McCann (Montclair, N.J.) needed a tiebreaker to defeat sophomore Chaniel Soffer (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) and first-year Alessandra Cristiani (San Salvador, El Salvador), 7-6 (7-4).
 
Middlebury got wins by van der Reis at number four (6-2, 6-2) and Wu at number three (6-1, 6-1) to extend the team lead to 3-0. Babson made a comeback attempt when Olivia Soffer, ranked eighth in Division III, downed 22nd-ranked Raman in the top flight, 7-5, 6-4, and 50th-ranked Matia Cristiani edged 47th-ranked Van Wieren at number two, also 7-5, 6-4. Middlebury finished off the match with wins by McCann at number five (6-2, 7-6 (7-4)) over Babson first-year Sarai Dorismond (Carlsbad, Calif.) and Farhat at number six (6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 1-0 (10-5) over Stasiowska.

Babson will play its fourth straight ranked opponent, No. 22 Redlands, on Friday at 7 p.m. (ET) at the Coach Jim Verdieck Tennis Center. Middlebury will take on No. 2 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Thursday at 2 p.m. (ET).