No. 14 Men's Tennis vs. No. 35 Stevens
NCAA Tournament | Second Round
Friday, May 9 | 11:30 a.m.
Pickard Tennis Courts | Brunswick, Maine

WHAT TO KNOW
•    After claiming its first conference tournament championship since 2021 back in late April, Babson received the NEWMAC automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and is one of five teams headed to Bowdoin for the opening weekend of the championship. 

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Thursday, May 8 | First Round 
Farmingdale State (16-3) vs. Baruch (12-3), 12 p.m. 

Friday, May 9 | Second Round
No. 8 Bowdoin (17-4) vs. Farmingdale State/Baruch, 9 a.m. 
No. 14 Babson (20-2) vs. No. 36 Stevens (14-7), 11:30 a.m.

Saturday, May 10 | Regional Final
Second Round winners, 9 a.m. 

SERIES HISTORY
•    Babson is 0-5 all-time against Stevens in a series that dates back to 2007. 
•    All five matches were played between 2007-17 and the closest contest between the programs came in 2008 when the Ducks defeated the Beavers, 5-4. 

LAST MEETING
•    Kyle Henry, Michael Feldman, William Persson and Divin Sarthak all recorded wins in both singles and doubles to help Stevens down Babson, 8-1, on March 5, 2017, in Needham, Mass. 
•    The Beavers' lone point came at number one singles where Alberto De Mendiola edged Danny Polk in three sets, 6-3, 2-6, 10-2. 

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
NCAA Tournament Appearance: 5th
Best NCAA Finish: 2023 regional final 
•    No. 14 Babson (20-2) has won eight consecutive matches and is coming off a 4-1 victory over MIT in the NEWMAC Tournament final back on April 28. 
•    Senior Wesley Zhang and first-year Edward Wang combined for a  6-2 win at number three singles and both recorded straight-set triumphs in singles for the Beavers, who earned the program's first postseason victory over the Engineers. 
•    Wang is 23-4 in all matches and 14-4 in dual-match singles, junior Alexander Merson (17-5) and first-year Sebastian Mendoza (17-8) have both won 14 times in dual-match play, senior Brady Anderson (13-11) boasts 11 victories at first and second singles, and Zhang is 14-2 overall with a 7-1 mark at number five. 
•    Senior Ole Lepsoe and Merson (11-2) have won seven straight matches at number one doubles, Anderson and Mendoza have won six in a row to improve to 10-2 at number two and the duo of Zhang and Wang are 8-4 this spring at number three. 

SCOUTING THE DUCKS
NCAA Tournament Appearance: 17th
Best NCAA Finish: Second round (2008, 2010-19, 2021-24)
•    No. 36 Stevens (14-7) enters the tournament riding a seven-match winning streak after defeating Lebanon Valley, 4-0, in the MAC Freedom Conference final last Saturday. 
•    Max-William Kanz posted wins at number one doubles and number one singles, while Noah Pe and Mihir Parcha both recorded straight-set victories in singles for the Ducks, who captured their 15th consecutive league title. 
•    Kanz (15-3) is 13-2 on the year at number one singles, Aidan Miller is 17-3 overall with 14 wins at Nos. 2-4 singles and Parcha has gone 9-10 in all matches, which includes a 3-3 mark at number three singles. 
•    Kanz and Olof Persson (6-3) have won five consecutive matches at number one doubles, Miller and Samvid Andhare are 5-1 at number two and the duo of Vivek Harinarayan and Matt Luzzi are 2-2 at number three doubles. 

MEN'S TENNIS SWEEPS MAJOR AWARDS, LANDS SIX ON ALL-CONFERENCE SQUADS
•    Anderson was selected as the NEWMAC Player of the Year, Wang was named rookie of the year and head coach Michael Kopelman, associate head coach Alan Dubrovksy and assistant coach Mihir Auty were selected as the league's coaching staff of the year last week. 
•    Anderson, Merson, Mendoza and Wang were among nine players that received all-conference singles honors, while Lepsoe and Merson, Anderson and Mendoza, and Zhang and Wang all garnered All-NEWMAC doubles accolades. 
•    Kopelman and his staff were tabbed as the NEWMAC Coaching Staff of the Year for the second time in the last three seasons. 

BEAVERS IN THE POSTSEASON
•    Babson is making its fifth NCAA Tournament appearance and first since 2021. 
•    After dropping first round matches in both 1997 and 2013, the Beavers won their opening matches in each of their last two trips to the NCAA Tournament (2014, 2021).
•    The Green and White is 1-1 all-time in second round matches with a 5-0 win over Stevenson in 2021 and a 5-0 loss to Middlebury back in 2014. 

REWRITING THE RECORD BOOKS
•    The Beavers have set a number of team and individual records during the 2024-25 campaign, which includes earning their highest national ranking in program history at No. 11 earlier this month and breaking the single-season record for wins 
•     Wang's 23 singles wins surpassed the previous mark set by David Weisman '98, who went 19-0 on the way to capturing the 1998 Division III singles national championship, while Merson (20), Anderson (19) and Lepsoe (19) have all surpassed the previous mark of 16 doubles victories in a season held by four players. 
•    Jon Martin's '05 record of 30 combined singles and doubles victories set back in 2003-04 has been surpassed by Wang (39), Merson (36), Mendoza (33) and Anderson (32) this season. 

TRENDS TO WATCH
•    The Beavers have won eight consecutive matches at number one doubles and their last seven at number two doubles. 
•    In singles, Babson has won 15 straight matches at number four, owns eight victories in a row at number six and has gone 14-1 over its last 15 outings at number five.
•    The Green and White is 20-0 this spring when winning the doubles point.
•    The Beavers are 6-2 this spring against ITA top-40 opponents. 

UP NEXT
•    The winner of Friday's match will face either No. 8 Bowdoin, Farmingdale State or Baruch in Saturday morning's regional final.