No. 5 Women's Tennis vs. No. 2 Chicago
NCAA Tournament | Quarterfinals 
Monday, May 18 | 2 p.m.
Champions Tennis Club | Chattanooga, Tenn. 

WHAT TO KNOW
•    The fifth-ranked Babson women's tennis team advanced to the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals for the first time in program history with its victory over Middlebury on May 10 and will now face second-ranked Chicago on Monday. 
•    The Beavers join MIT (2015, 2018, 2019, 2022) as the only NEWMAC programs to reach the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division III Women's Tennis Championship. 

NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE
Quarterfinals | Monday, May 18
No. 1 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps vs. No. 7 Bowdoin, 11 a.m. 
No. 4 Wesleyan vs. No. 9 Washington & Lee, 11 a.m.
No. 5 Babson vs. No. 2 Chicago, 2 p.m.
No. 3 Washington (Mo.) vs. No. 8 Carnegie Mellon, 2 p.m.

Semifinals | Tuesday, May 19
CMS/Bowdoin winner vs. Wesleyan/Wash. & Lee winner
Babson/Chicago winner vs. Wash U/Carnegie Mellon winner

Final | Thursday, May 21
Semifinal winners, 

SERIES HISTORY
•    First meeting 

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
NCAA Tournament Appearance: 5th
Best NCAA Finish: 2026 quarterfinals
•    No. 5 Babson (18-4) has won four straight and 14 of its last 15 matches after defeating No. 12 Middlebury, 4-2, in the regional final on May 10. 
•    Despite dropping the doubles point, senior Matia Cristiani, sophomore Alessandra Cristiani and first-years Tina Liu and Sandra Sikharulidze all recorded victories in singles to help the Beavers rally for their first win in program history over the Panthers. 
•    Matia Cristiani, the top-ranked singles player in Division III, is 31-0 overall and 15-0 this spring at number one singles, 10th-ranked Sikharulidze (23-2) is 15-0 at number two, first-year Elizabeth Shu is 9-2 in all matches this spring, and fellow rookie Jolie Wang is 16-6 overall and 10-3 in dual matches. 
•    Matia Cristiani and Sikharulidze, who are ranked third nationally, are 32-2 in all doubles matches and 17-0 at number one, Shu and Alessandra Cristiani (7-4) have won five of their last six matches, and junior Dana Kamal is now 7-2 at number three doubles with three different partners. 

SCOUTING THE MAROONS
NCAA Tournament Appearance: 17th
Best NCAA Finish: 2024 National Champions
•    No. 2 Chicago (18-4) punched its ticket to the national quarterfinals for the ninth consecutive tournament going back to 2016 with a 4-0 victory over No. 19 Gustavus Adolphus in the regional final back on May 10. 
•    Anika Paul won 6-2, 6-2 at number three singles, Lily Zawaneh was a 6-1, 6-2 winner at number four and Isabelle Chong posted a 6-2, 6-0 triumph  at number six for the Maroons, who have won 11 consecutive matches dating back to March 20. 
•    No. 2 ranked Sarena Biria is 25-9 overall and 14-6 at number one singles this spring, Chong (20-5) is a perfect 9-0 at number six, 24th-ranked Clara Zou is 15-8 overall and 5-3 at number two, and 18th-ranked Paul is 15-10 in all matches, which includes an 8-0 mark at number three. 
•    Lauren Khou and Oliwia Mikos are 6-2 at number one doubles, Zawaneh and Tina Kintiroglou are 6-2 overall and 2-1 at number two, and the duo of Paul and Zou are 1-0 at number three after playing together for the first time in the Maroons' second round win over Luther. 

BEAVERS IN THE POSTSEASON
•    All five of Babson's NCAA Tournament appearances as a team have come over the last 11 seasons.
•    The Green and White, which also received a first round bye in 2023, is 6-4 all-time in NCAA Tournament matches. 
•    The Beavers are now 1-1 all-time in two regional final appearances with this year's win over Middlebury and a 5-2 loss to Amherst in 2023. 
•    Babson has never faced an opponent from the UAA in the NCAA Tournament. 

HALL, CRISTIANI AND SIKHARULIDZE RECEIVE ITA NORTHEAST REGIONAL RECOGNITION
•    Babson second-year head coach Emma Hall was selected as the ITA Northeast Regional Coach of the Year, Matia Cristiani was tabbed as the region's senior player of the year and Sikarhulidze was chosen as rookie of the year last Wednesday. 
•    Hall is the Beavers' first ITA Northeast Regional Coach of the Year recipient since 2015, Cristiani gave the program is second consecutive senior player of the year award after Olivia Soffer '25 was selected last May, and Sikharulidze became Babson's first regional rookie of the year since Cristiani back in 2023. 

KAMAL EARNS NEWMAC TOURNAMENT MOST OUTSTANDING PLAYER HONORS
•    After going 2-0 at number three doubles and registering the clinching point in singles against MIT, Kamal was tabbed as the tournament most outstanding player following the championship match back on May 3.  
•    She paired with Wang for a 6-4 win at number three doubles in last Saturday's semifinal triumph over Wellesley and added to her doubles win with senior Grace Starcher by defeating Rayna Li of MIT 6-4, 6-4 at number six singles to help Babson claim its first NEWMAC Tournament win over the Engineers since 2014. 

CRISTIANI NAMED PLAYER OF THE YEAR AS FOUR EARN ALL-CONFERENCE RECOGNITION
•    Matia Cristiani was selected as the NEWMAC Player of the Year and joined Sikharulidze, sister Alessandra Cristiani and Shu in receiving both all-conference singles and doubles honors earlier this week. 
•    Matia Cristiani and Sikharulidze were first-team selections in both singles and doubles, Shu was a first-team choice in singles and joined Alessandra Cristiani in garnering second-team laurels in doubles. Alessandra also earned second-team accolades in singles. 

BEAVERS' TOP DUO SELECTED FOR NCAA INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
•    Matia Cristiani and Sikharulidze were both selected to compete in the NCAA Singles and Championships, which begin on May 22 in Chattanooga, Tenn.
•    Both will take part of in the 32-player singles draw and were one of 16 doubles teams chosen to participate. 

REWRITING THE RECORD BOOKS
•    Matia Cristiani, who already became the program's all-time leader in singles (111), doubles (115) and combined victories (226) earlier this season, surpassed former teammate Olivia Soffer's '25 single-season record of 32 doubles wins in 2023-24 with a win against Stevens on May 9, and matched Soffer's singles mark of 31 wins achieved during the 2022-23 campaign in the victory over Middlebury. 
•    Matia also surpassed her own single-season record of 63 combined victories set during the 2023-24 campaign with the doubles win over Stevens and has 64 on the year.
•    Babson's 18 wins are a new single-season program record after breaking the previous mark of 16 set back in 2022-23. 

TOURNAMENT TESTED
•    Of the other seven programs set to compete in Monday's quarterfinals, the Beavers have played four of them this season. 
•    Babson beat Bowdoin (4-3) on March 1 and Washington & Lee (7-0) on April 23, while suffering losses Wash U (4-2) on March 15 and Wesleyan (4-2) on March 17 on spring break in South Carolina.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
•    Babson owns winning streaks of 39 matches at number one singles, 37 matches at number two singles and 38 matches at number one doubles entering Monday's quarterfinal against Chicago. 
•    The Beavers have won 25 of their last 26 matches when leading after doubles going back to last season. 
•    The Green and White is 14-0 this season when winning at number three doubles and 13-0 when winning at number five singles.