TEMPE, Ariz.—Babson College head coach Emma Hall, senior Matia Cristiani (San Salvador, El Salvador) and first-year Sandra Sikharulidze (Kyiv, Ukraine) were all recognized when the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) announced its 2026 Regional Award winners on Wednesday afternoon. 

Hall was selected as the ITA Northeast Region Coach of the Year, Cristiani garnered ITA Northeast Senior Player of the Year honors and Sikharulidze was tabbed as the regional rookie of the year. 

Hall, and full-time assistant Kartik Erodula, have guided the Beavers to a historic campaign that includes setting a singles-season record for wins, capturing the program's first New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Tournament championship since the fall of 2014 and a spot in next week's NCAA quarterfinals for the first time in school history. Babson, which has now made back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances under Hall, defeated No. 39 Stevens last Saturday to advance to the regional final for the first time since 2023 and then knocked off 12th-ranked Middlebury 4-2 to punch its ticket to the final eight. 

Hall, who saw four of her players earn All-NEWMAC singles and doubles honors, has led her squad to wins in 14 of the last 15 matches and an overall record of 18-4 while ascending to a program-best fifth in the national rankings. The Beavers own seven victories against teams currently ranked among the top-25 and all four of their losses have come against foes ranked 11th or higher. 

Hall is just the second Babson women's coach to garner ITA Northeast Region Coach of the Year accolades and first since Jim Berrigan following the 2015 campaign. 

The most decorated player in program history, Cristiani added to a resume that incudes ITA Northeast Region Rookie of the Year in 2023 and ITA National and Northeast Region Player to Watch honors in 2024 on Tuesday. After winning the ITA Cup singles championship and ITA New England singles and doubles titles in the fall, Cristiani has won all 14 of her matches this spring to improve to 31-0 on the year. She was named NEWMAC Player of the Year for the first time while garnering her fourth straight all-league honors in singles and doubles, and also owns a school-record 33 wins in doubles and is 32-3 alongside Sikharulidze on the year. 

A three-time ITA All-American in both singles and doubles, Cristiani has achieved new single-season records for doubles (33) and combined victories (64) while matching Olivia Soffer's '25 mark of 31 singles wins this season. She also is the Beavers' all-time leader in singles (111), doubles (115) and combined victories (226), and joined Soffer (2025) as Babson's only ITA Northeast Region Player of the Year honorees. 

An All-NEWMAC first-team selection in both singles and doubles, Sikharulidze became the first player since Cristiani in 2023 and just the second in school history to collect regional rookie of the year laurels after going 22-4 in singles and 32-3 in doubles this season. The 10th-ranked player in Division III, she has won all 16 of her singles matches this spring and has paired with Cristiani to recorded 18 consecutive victories in doubles. 

Sikharulidze, who paired with Cristiani to win the ITA New England doubles championship, has set a Babson rookie record for combined (54) and doubles wins, and is just two victories shy of Cristiani's total of 24 as a first-year back in 2022-23. 

The Beavers are set to take on No. 2 Chicago in the NCA quarterfinals on Monday at 2 p.m. in Chattanooga, Tenn.