No. 14 Men's Tennis at No. 8 Bowdoin
NCAA Tournament | Third Round
Saturday, May 9 | 9 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.
WHAT'S AT STAKE
• The winner of Saturday's match will punch its ticket to the NCAA quarterfinals, which will be held in Claremont, Calif., on May 19.
• The Beavers are looking to reach the quarterfinals for the first time in school history, while the Polar Bears are seeking their third straight trip and eighth appearance overall.
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Thursday, May 8 | First Round
Baruch 4, Farmingdale State 2
Friday, May 9 | Second Round
No. 8 Bowdoin 4, Baruch 0
No. 14 Babson 4, No. 36 Stevens 0
Saturday, May 10 | Regional Final
No. 14 Babson (21-2) at No. 8 Bowdoin (18-4), 9 a.m.
SERIES HISTORY
• Babson is 1-14 all-time against Bowdoin in a series that dates back to 1997.
• The Beavers have dropped their last 13 matches to the Polar Bears although they've met just three times over the last decade.
• Babson's lone win in the all-time series was a 4-3 victory on April 11, 1997, in Babson Park.
• The only postseason matchup between the programs also came back in 1997 as the Polar Bears defeated the Green and White, 5-2, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on May 11 in Williamstown, Mass.
LAST MEETING
• Bowdoin got wins in both singles and doubles from Tristan Bradley, Reid Staples, Pieter Breuker and Ethan Bradley on the way to defeating Babson, 9-0, in Brunswick, Maine, on March 2, 2024.
•
Kerem Ozlale pushed Mark Kneiss to three sets at number four singles before falling 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (11-9) for the Beavers.
SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
NCAA Tournament Appearance: 5th
Best NCAA Finish: 2021 regional final
• No. 15 Babson (21-2) has won nine consecutive matches and is after defeating 36th-ranked Stevens, 4-0, to open the NCAA Tournament on Friday afternoon.
• Senior
Ole Lepsoe and junior
Alexander Merson secured the doubles point with a 7-6 (7-3) victory at number one doubles, and Merson, senior
Wesley Zhang and first-year
Sebastian Mendoza were straight-set winners in singles for the Beavers.
• First-year
Edward Wang is 23-4 in all matches and 14-4 in dual-match singles, Merson (18-5) and Mendoza (18-8) have both won 15 times in dual-match play, senior
Brady Anderson (13-11) boasts 11 victories at first and second singles, and Zhang is 15-2 overall with a 8-1 mark at number five.
• Lepsoe and Merson (12-2) have won eight straight matches at number one doubles, Anderson and Mendoza have won seven in a row to improve to 11-2 at number two and the duo of Zhang and Wang are 8-5 this spring at number three.
SCOUTING THE POLAR BEARS
NCAA Tournament Appearance: 23rd
Best NCAA Finish: National Champions (2016)
• No. 8 Bowdoin (18-4) has won seven of its last eight matches and cruised to a 4-0 second round victory over Baruch on Friday morning.
• Cameron Zia won 6-0, 6-0 at number four singles, Kiran Garapati was a 6-0, 6-1 winner at number five and Andrew Mendelson posted a 6-0, 6-0 triumph at number six for the Polar Bears, who improved to 15-0 on the year when leading after doubles.
• Garapati is 15-2 in all singles matches, Zia (14-4) owns nine wins at number four, Mendelson (13-5) has won 13 straight contests in singles and Kneiss is 12-4 at number one this spring.
• Breuker and Garapati are 8-10 overall at number one doubles, Kneiss and Jackson Codd are 13-5 in all matches with 11 wins at number two, and the duo of Aden Dorros and Mick Tamas have gone 11-4 on the year at number three.
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 making its second appearance in the regional final after falling 5-0 to Emory back in 2021.
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 (21), Anderson (20) and Lepsoe (20) 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 (38), Mendoza (35) and Anderson (33) this season.
TRENDS TO WATCH
• The Beavers have won nine consecutive matches at number one doubles and their last eight at number two doubles.
• In singles, Babson has won 15 straight matches at number four, owns nine victories in a row at number six and has gone 15-1 over its last 16 outings at number five.
• The Green and White is 21-0 this spring when winning the doubles point.
• The Beavers are 7-2 this spring against ITA top-40 opponents.
• Babson went 1-1 against NESCAC foes during the regular season as it lost to then-No. 3 Tufts 7-0 on March 2 and then defeated then-No. 6 Middlebury 5-2 on March 16.
