CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—Senior Olivia Soffer (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) and junior Matia Cristiani (San Salvador, El Salvador) recorded straight-set victories, but No. 15 Babson College suffered a 4-2 loss to No. 8 MIT in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Tournament final on Sunday afternoon at the duPont Tennis Courts. 

Babson, which was making its seventh consecutive NEWMAC final, is now 14-6 on the year. MIT, which claimed its fourth straight conference crown, improves to 16-2 with its 12th victory in a row. 

The Engineers claimed the doubles point with victories at Nos. 2 and 3. Sophomores Saina Deshpande (Pune, India) and Anastasia Samets (Ocean, N.J.) were 6-1 winners over the Beavers' pairing of sophomore Dana Kamal (Cairo, Egypt) and first-year Mia Sorrentino (Miami, Fla.) at number three, while senior Jay Lu (Austin, Texas) and first-year Chloe Zeng (Austin, Texas) edged sophomore Chaniel Soffer (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) and first-year Alessandra Cristiani (San Salvador, El Salvador) 6-4 at number two. 

Olivia Soffer and Matia Cristiani battled back from a 3-0 deficit to pull even at 5-5 against MIT juniors Alaina Kolli (Buffalo Grove, Ill.) and Arteis Pados (Delray Beach, Fla.) at number one doubles when the point was clinched. 

Matia Cristiani earned the first singles point with a 6-1, 6-1 triumph over Zeng, and Olivia Soffer tied the match at 2-2 with a 6-2, 6-3 triumph over 11th-ranked first-year Fiona Lee (Ladera Ranch, Calif.) at number one singles. The Engineers secured the title with the final two points though, as Kolli beat junior Kamila Stasiowska (Burlington, Conn.) 6-4, 6-1 at number five, while Samets rallied from 5-4 down in the second set to defeat Kamal, 6-3, 7-5 at number six. 

Alessandra Cristiani split the first two sets against Lu and was up 1-6, 6-4, 2-0 at number three singles at the time of decision. 

Babson, which is ranked seventh in the region, must wait until the selections are announced on Monday at 12 p.m. to see if they receive an at-large berth into the NEWMAC Tournament. 

MATCH NOTES
•    Sunday's match was the ninth played between the Beavers and MIT in the last 11 postseasons. 
•    Olivia Soffer is 6-0 in the postseason at number one singles, while Matia Cristiani improved to 8-0 all-time in the postseason at number two singles. 
•    Babson is now 7-6 on the year against ITA top-40 opponents with three of the losses coming to top-10 foes.