No. 11 Men's Tennis at Stag-Hen Invitational
Pauley Tennis Complex | Biszantz Family Tennis Center | Claremont, Calif.
   vs. No. 2 Chicago | Friday, March 20 | 1 p.m. EDT
   TBA | Friday, March 20 | 6 p.m. EDT | vs. No. 5 Tufts or No. 16 Pomona Pitzer
   TBA | Saturday, March 21 | 1 p.m. EDT | vs. No. 1 CMS, No. 6 Johns Hopkins, No. 7 Bowdoin, or No. 14 Trinity (Texas)

STAG-HEN INVITATIONAL
• Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and Pomona-Pitzer will co-host the Stag-Hen Invitational, featuring eight nationally-ranked teams.
• No. 11 Babson will take on No. 2 Chicago in the opening round on Friday.
• The rest of the first-round matches include No. 5 Tufts vs. No. 16 Pomona Pitzer, No. 1 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps vs. No. 14 Trinity (Texas), and No. 6 Johns Hopkins vs. No. 7 Bowdoin.
• The second round of matches will be Friday afternoon and the final round is slated for Saturday at 1 p.m. ET. The teams will be placed 1-8 by the end of the tournament.

SERIES HISTORY
vs. Chicago: first meeting all-time
vs. Tufts: The Jumbos lead the series 24-0, including a 6-1 victory on March 1, 2026.
vs. Pomona Pitzer: The Beavers lead the series 1-0, registering a 7-2 victory in 2023.

LAST MEETING
Tufts 6, Babson 1 (at Beverly, Mass., March 1, 2026)
• Senior Alexander Merson recorded wins in both singles and doubles but No. 12 Babson suffered its first loss of the season falling to No. 3 Tufts, 6-1.
• Merson and first-year Maxim Zlobinsky rolled to a 6-0 victory over Kaetan Mehta and Javier Gonzalez at number two doubles, but the Jumbos secured the doubles point with a pair of 6-4 wins by Alex Ganchev and Sacha Maes at number one and Stavros Mastrogamvrakis and Jackson Rich at number three.
• All six singles matches were decided in straight sets with Merson picking up the lone victory for the Beavers at number one. Tufts got wins by Ganchev at number two, Andrej Djokic at three, Garv Bahl at four, Maes at five, and Mehta at six.
Babson 7, Pomona Pitzer 2 (at Claremont, Calif., March 17, 2023)
• The Green and White took the lead in doubles thanks to victories in the first two matches. Brady Anderson '25 and Luis Utrilla were 8-2 winners at number one while Brooks Green M'23 and Wesley Zhang '25 earned a hard-fought 8-6 result at number two.
• The teams split the first two completed singles matches as Babson's Jason Weisman '23 was a 6-3, 6-1 winner at number six and Matthew Feng earned a 6-3, 6-0 verdict at number five. Each of the final four singles matches saw the Green and White prevail in three sets, Green at number one (5-7, 6-1, 6-2), Anderson at number two (7-6, 3-6, 6-4), Utrilla at number three (4-6, 6-2, 6-0), and Kian Yazdi M'23 at number four (6-3, 3-6, 6-4).

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• No. 11 Babson (7-1, 1-0 NEWMAC) began its California trip with victories over Whitman (6-1) and Colorado College (5-2) on Wednesday in Claremont.
• Merson and Zlobinsky registered victories in both matches at number one doubles, and Merson won the top singles match vs. Whitman and Zlobinski won at number two against CC. Sophomore Sebastian Mendoza posted victories at number two doubles with grad student Ryan Patrick against Whitman and sophomore Edward Wang over Colorado.
• Merson (12-1) has won four straight matches at number one singles and is 6-0 in dual matches. Wang (9-3) is 3-0 at number one and 3-1 at number two, and first-year Dylan O'Connell-DeCerchio (9-1) is tied for second on the squad in singles wins, followed by classmate Sourish Gadhi (8-3) and Zlobinsky (8-3).
• Mendoza and Wang (17-4) are ranked third in Division III in doubles, and Merson and Zlobinsky are 5-1.

SCOUTING THE MAROONS
• No. 2 Chicago (9-2, 1-0 UAA) posted a 6-1 victory over No. 5 Tufts on Wednesday in Claremont, Calif.
• The Maroons dropped all three doubles matchups but rebounded with triumphs in all six singles flights. Shrikeshav Murugesan won a marathon at number one, 7-6 (7-5), 5-7, 7-6 (7-1), Ajer Sher won in a third-set breaker at four, 7-5, 5-7, 1-0 (10-6), and the others were all in straight sets, Emil Grantcharov at two, Alex Ekstrand at three, Michael Choi at five and Christian Liew at six.
• Sher (16-5) leads the team in singles wins, followed by Grandcharov (9-6), Murugesan (8-3), Liew (8-3) Ekstrand (8-2), and Choi (7-0). Murugesan and Liew are 8-6 in doubles and Heyang Li and Albert Mackey are 7-2.

SCOUTING THE JUMBOS
• No. 5 Tufts (6-1, 1-0 NESCAC) was handed its first loss of the season by No. 2 Chicago on Wednesday, and will play Azusa Pacific on Thursday before starting the Sage-Hen tourney on Friday.
• The Jumbos swept all three doubles matches against the Maroon. The pairing of Javier Gonzalez and Sacha Maes set the tone with a decisive 6-0 win at No. 1 doubles, while Andrej Djokic and Matej Djokic followed with a 6-3 victory in the No. 2 position. Alex Ganchev and Kaetan Mehta completed the sweep with a 6-4 win at No. 3.
• Garv Bahl (7-2) and Jackson Rich (7-0) lead the Jumbos in singles wins, while Gonzalez is 3-2 in number on singles. Ganchev and Maes are 4-4 in doubles, and the tandems of Gonzalez/Mehta and Stavros Mastrogamvrakis/Rich are both 4-2.

SCOUTING THE SAGEHENS
• No. 16 Pomona Pitzer (7-5, 3-0 SCIAC) dropped a tight 4-3 decision to No. 6 Johns Hopkins on Wednesday in Clermont, Calif.
• The Sagehens took all three doubles matchups as Jay Mallampati and Drew Goldman were winners at number one, Leo Rocca and Kiran Vaairavanathan took the number two tilt, and Neil Chulani and Sam English completed the sweep at number three.
• They managed just two singles wins by Goldman at number one and Tanner Ige at five.

NATIONALLY RANKED FOES
• The weekend's matches are three of the 10 encounters this spring for Babson against teams that are in the ITA Top 40 Team Rankings.
• The Beavers are 2-1 thus far after the defeat of No. 20 Rensselaer and No. 27 NYU and a loss to No. 3 Tufts, and will also face No. 30 MIT, No. 25 Haverford, No. 10 Amherst, and No. 32 Brandeis in the next six weeks.

MERSON, ZLOBINSKY SWEEP NEWMAC WEEKLY HONORS
• Merson and Zlobinsky were named the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Doubles Team of the Week and Merson was tabbed Singles Player of the Week back on March 2 in the second round of men's tennis weekly honors this season.
• Merson went 2-0 at number one singles as Babson split its matches against a pair of nationally-ranked foes, and the duo went 2-0 while not dropping a point at number two doubles.

ITA TEAM RANKINGS
• Babson, which climbed as high as No. 11 in last year's ITA Division III regular season rankings on April 2 and April 9, finished 11th in the 2024-25 final rankings.
• The Beavers were ranked No. 12 in this year's preseason rankings in January, and moved into a tie for 11th with Amherst in the March 6 rankings.

ITA INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS
• Babson was well represented when the ITA released its first national and regional singles and doubles rankings of the 2025-26 season in November.
• The top ranking for Babson came in doubles where Mendoza and Wang have ascended to No. 3 nationally in addition to claiming the top in the northeast region. Merson is ranked 17th nationally in singles, while Wang will enter the spring at No. 42.
• Merson (4th), Wang (12th) and Mendoza (19th) are all among the top 20 in singles in the northeast region as well. 

UP NEXT
• The Beavers return to New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference action on March 31 when they host No. 30 MIT in the home opener at the Babson Tennis Courts.