BABSON PARK, Mass.— First-year
Max Lidman (Stockholm, Sweden) won matches in both singles and doubles without giving up a game as top-seeded and No. 12 Babson College cruised past fourth-seeded Clark University, 4-0, in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) men's tennis tournament semifinal Friday afternoon at the Babson Tennis Courts.
With its sixth straight win, Babson improves to 17-4 on the season, which is tied for the second-most wins in a season in program history. The defending champion Beavers advance to the NEWMAC Tournament final for the fourth straight season and 12th time in the last 13 tries. Clark sees its season come to an end with a 14-6 record.
The Green and White captured a pair of doubles win to claim the first team point, and got singles wins from sophomore
Edward Wang (Burr Ridge, Ill.) and first-years
Sourish Gadhi (Morganville, N.J.) and Lidman to secure the team victory.
Lidman and junior
Louis Bourn (Geneva, Switzerland) started things off with a 6-0 victory over first-years Ved Rao (Worcester, Mass.) and Benjamin Liu (Rians, France) at number three, and Wang and sophomore
Sebastian Mendoza (Weston, Fla.) clinched the doubles point with a 6-3 verdict over sophomore Ziad Tabbara (Manacor, Spain) and junior Aris Kirkorian (Sunnyside, N.Y.). The number one doubles match between Babson senior
Alexander Merson (Palisades Park, N.J.) and first-year
Maxim Zlobinsky (Greenvale, N.Y.) and Clark seniors Edward Shepherd (Takoma Park, Md.) and Graham Russo (Bridgewater, Mass) was tied at 5-5 in the first set when the point was clinched.
Gadhi breezed past sophomore Ethan Montane (Providence, R.I) at number six singles, 6-0, 6-0, and Gadhi had little trouble with Liu at number five, 6-0, 6-1. The deciding point came when Wang posted a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Tabbara at number two.
Merson won the first set over Shepherd at number one singles and was down 3-2 in the second set when the match was stopped. Mendoza took the first set over Russo at number four before trailing 2-1 in the second set, and Kirkorian won a first-set tie-breaker against Zlobinsky and was leading in the second set at number three, 7-6 (8-6), 2-1.
The Beavers will host second-seeded MIT in the NEWMAC championship match on Sunday at 12 p.m. at the Babson Tennis Courts.
MATCH NOTES
• Babson has won 17 consecutive matches against Clark since 2013 and is 36-2 all-time against the Cougars in a series that goes back to 1997.
• The Beavers have won eight consecutive NEWMAC Tournament matches played in Babson Park dating back to 2018.
• The Green and White boast a 17-match winning streak against conference foes that dates back to the start of last season.
• Lidman won his sixth straight match to improve to 8-4 on the season.
