BABSON PARK, Mass.—First-years
Elizabeth Shu (Sugar Land, Texas),
Sandra Sikharulidze (Kyiv, Ukraine) and
Jolie Wang (Los Altos Hills, Calif.) all recorded victories in both singles and doubles as second-seeded and eighth-ranked Babson College defeated third-seeded and 39th-ranked Wellesley College, 4-0, in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Tournament semifinal on Saturday afternoon inside the Longfellow Tennis Club.
Babson, which has won 11 of its last 12 matches, improves to 15-4 on the year while advancing to its eighth consecutive NEWMAC Tournament final. Wellesley likely sees its season come to a close at 13-6 overall.
The Beavers secured the doubles point with victories on all three courts. Shu and sophomore
Alessandra Cristiani (San Salvador, El Salvador) beat Blue junior Kriti Sarav (Chicago, Ill.) and first-year Luna Bian (Buffalo Grove, Ill.) 6-2 at number two, Sikharulidze and senior
Matia Cristiani (San Salvador, El Salvador) were 6-3 winners over senior Emilee Pak (Chicago, Ill.) and junior Suzanne Xu (Boyds, Md.), and the duo of Wang and junior
Dana Kamal (Cairo, Egypt) edged sophomores Rianna Mariotti (Forest Hills, N.Y.) and Nandini Patel (Phoenix, Ariz.) 6-4 at number three.
Shu registered the first point in singles with a convincing 6-2, 6-1 win over Patel at number three, while Sikharulidze cruised to a 6-2, 6-1 result at number two. Wang followed with the clinching point at number six by defeating Sarav 6-4, 6-1.
The Green and White also led in all three unfinished singles matches although only number one had completed a set with
Matia Cristiani up 6-2, 4-3 on Xu.
Babson will travel to No. 7 MIT for the NEWMAC Tournament final on Sunday at 12 p.m.
MATCH NOTES
• The Beavers have won seven of their last eight matches against Wellesley and six in a row versus the Blue in the conference playoffs.
• Babson is now 13-0 this spring when winning at number three doubles.
• Sikharulidze extended her singles winning streak to 14 matches, and her and
Matia Cristiani won their 16th straight match at number one doubles to improve to 30-2 this season.
