BLUFFTON, S.C. — No. 2 Wesleyan University captured the doubles point and won three of the first five singles matches to defeat No. 9 Babson College, 4-2, in another battle of top-10 women's tennis programs Tuesday afternoon at Bluffton High School.

With the loss, Babson dropped its second straight match to a top-5 opponent by a 4-2 score and fell to 4-2 overall. Wesleyan won its third straight match and seventh in the last eight outings over top-20 opponents, including five top-10 foes, and upped its record to 7-2 on the season.

Senior Matia Cristiani (San Salvador, El Salvador) and first-year Sandra Sikharulidze (Kyiv, Ukraine) won their match-up at No. 1 doubles and captured matches in the top two singles flight for the Beavers.

First-years Lara Afolayanka (Uniondale, N.Y.) and Mariia Kornilova (Russia) posted victories in both singles and doubles to lead the Cardinals.

Kornilova and first-year Kendall Smith (Fairport, N.Y.) produced the first victory of the day for Wesleyan with a 6-2 victory at number three doubles. Babson countered with a 7-6 decision by Cristiani and Sikharulidze at one doubles, but Wesleyan earned the doubles point with a 7-6 verdict at number two by Afolayanka and fellow first-year Agnes Guggenheim (Venice, Calif.).

Cristiani, ranked No. 1 in Division III, put the Beavers on the board with a 6-3, 6-3 triumph at number one singles over senior Leila Epstein (New York City, N.Y.), who is ranked 42nd. The Cardinals took the next two matches with wins by Kornilova at number five, 7-5, 6-2, and Afolayanka at number three, 7-5, 7-5.

Babson cut the margin to 3-2 when Sikharulidze defeated Guggenheim at number two, 6-0, 5-7, 6-2, but Wesleyan clinched the team victory when sophomore Natalia Leroy (Mexico City, Mexico) outlasted first-year Tina Lui (Plantation, Fla.) at number four, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6.

The sixth singles match went unfinished as Smith won the first set for Wesleyan, 6-3 and first-year Jolie Wang (Los Altos Hills, Calif.) was leading the second set, 3-2.

Babson plays one more match on the spring break trip, facing No. 13 Johns Hopkins on Wednesday at 10 a.m. Wesleyan visits Trinity for a NESCAC match on March 25 in Hartford, Conn.