BABSON PARK, Mass.—Babson College senior
Olivia Soffer (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) and junior
Matia Cristiani (San Salvador, El Salvador) added to their postseason honors on Friday with Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) All-America honors in both singles and doubles.
Soffer garnered ITA All-America singles accolades for the fourth consecutive season, while Cristiani was recognized for the third year in a row. Both players also were named to the All-America team in doubles for third straight campaign.
The top doubles tandem in Division III, Soffer and Cristiani won four straight matches in straight sets to claim their second consecutive national championship back on May 27. They defeated the top-ranked duo of Sahana Raman and Nina Farhat of Middlebury, 6-2, 6-2, in the final for their 17th consecutive victory, and finished the year at 27-2 overall.
Soffer and Cristiani, who were the NCAA doubles runners-up in 2023, became the first players to reach the championship match in three consecutive seasons since 2014 and became the first back-to-back national champions since 2016. Soffer ranks first in program history with 99 doubles wins, Cristiani is second with 83 victories, and together they have gone 81-8 over the last three seasons.
Soffer, who was selected as the ITA Senior Player of the Year last month, became the first four-time singles All-American in school history after going 27-5 during the 2024-25 campaign. She qualified for the NCAA Singles Championship for the fourth consecutive season in addition to finishing as the ITA New England Championships singles runner-up and advancing to the ITA Cup in singles for the second time in her career.
The Beavers' only four-time New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Player of the Year, Soffer reached the 2023 NCAA singles final and is the school's all-time leader with 97 singles and 196 combined wins. She finished the year at No. 4 in the ITA Division III singles rankings.
Cristiani put together another terrific season going 26-2 overall and 17-0 in dual-match singles play to earn her third straight ITA All-America honor. She qualified for the NCAA singles championship for the third time in as many seasons and won 21 consecutive matches from October 6 through May 24, and suffered her only losses of the year to Jackie Soloveychick of Wesleyan, who reached the final of the NCAA singles draw.
Cristiani, who won the 2023 ITA New England Championships singles title, and reached the semifinals of the 2024 NCAA singles championship, ranks second behind only Soffer in both singles (79) and combined victories (162) over her first three seasons. She concluded the year ranked eighth in singles among Division III players by the ITA.
In addition to capturing the program's second consecutive national championship in doubles, Soffer and Cristiani helped Babson advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament while finishing with an overall record of 15-7.
