No. 8 Women's Tennis at No. 7 MIT
NEWMAC Tournament Final
Sunday, May 3 | 12 p.m. 
Dupont Tennis Courts / JB Carr Tennis Bubble | Cambridge, Mass. 

SERIES HISTORY
•    Babson is 7-55 all-time against MIT in a series that dates back to the 1979-80 campaign with just one win in the last 16 matches since 2015. 
•    The Beavers have dropped six straight matches in the series since defeating the Engineers 6-3 back in April 2023. 
•    The Green and White is seeking its first win over MIT in Cambridge since the 2003 NEWMAC Tournament final. 

POSTSEASON HISTORY
•     The teams will meet for the fifth consecutive season and seventh time since 2018 in the NEWMAC Tournament final on Sunday. 
•    Babson is 2-14 all-time in the conference playoffs versus MIT, which includes 5-3 setbacks in both 2023 and 2024 and a 4-2 loss last May. 
•    The Beavers are 2-6 in eight previous meetings in the NEWMAC final against the Engineers with their wins coming in 2003 (5-2) and 2014 (5-4). 
•    Sunday's match will be the 10th in the last 12 conference tournaments between Babson and MIT.

LAST MEETING
•    Katie Driscoll rallied for a 6-7 (3-7), 7-5, 6-1 win at number three singles to help MIT defeat the Beavers, 4-3, on April 25 in Babson Park. 
•    Sophia Yang, Carley Chen and Rayna Li recorded straight-set singles victories for the Engineers, who also got a 6-4 win from Driscoll and Anastasia Samets at number three doubles. 
•    Senior Matia Cristiani and first-year Sandra Sikharulidze won at first and second singles and number doubles for Babson, which also got a 7-5 triumph from sophomore Alessandra Cristiani and first-year Elizabeth Shu at number two to secure the doubles point. 

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
•    Second-seeded and eighth-ranked Babson has won 11 of its last 12 matches after cruising to a 4-0 victory over third-seeded and 39th-ranked Wellesley in Saturday's NEWMAC semifinals. 
•    Sikharulidze, Shu and first-year Jolie Wang all registered wins in both singles and doubles in their postseason debuts for the Beavers, who picked up their ninth top-40 victory of the season. 
•    Matia Cristiani, the top-ranked singles player in Division III, is 30-0 overall this spring and 14-0 at number one singles, 11th-ranked Sikharulidze (20-2) is 12-0 at number two, Shu is 8-2 in all matches this spring, and Wang is 15-6 overall and 9-3 in dual matches. 
•    Matia Cristiani and Sikharulidze, who are ranked third nationally, are 30-2 in all doubles matches and 15-0 at number one, Shu and Alessandra Cristiani (7-3) have won five consecutive matches, and Wang and junior Dana Kamal were 6-4 winners on Saturday against Wellesley.

SCOUTING THE ENGINEERS
•    Top-seeded and seventh-ranked MIT (16-2) has won nine straight matches and punched its ticket to a 13th straight NEWMAC Tournament final with Saturday's 4-0 semifinal victory over fourth-seeded Smith. 
•    The pairings of Driscoll and Samets at number three and Artemis Pados and Alaina Kolli at number one helped secure the doubles point before Yang, Saina Deshpande and Chloe Zeng all posted straight-set wins in singles for the Engineers. 
•    Deshpande (18-9), who is ranked 13th in Division III, has won nine of her last 11 matches at number one singles, Zeng (12-7) has won six in a row at number two, Driscoll (18-6) owns 11 victories in her last 13 matches at number three, and Li is 17-3 overall with 11 consecutive wins. 
•    Kolli and Pados are 19-6 in doubles and have won eight of their last nine matches at number one, Zeng and Chen are 10-5 at number two and the duo of Samets and Driscoll have won nine of their last 11 matches to improve to 11-5 at number three.

BEAVERS IN THE POSTSEASON
•    Babson is making its eighth consecutive appearance in the NEWMAC Tournament final since 2018, and will face MIT for the seventh time in the championship match during this stretch. The lone exception came during the pandemic-shortened 2021 campaign when the Beavers were scheduled to take on Springfield in a match that was never played. 
•    The Green and White is 2-7 all-time in nine trips to the conference final and have faced MIT in all nine matches
•    Babson defeated the Engineers 5-2 in 2003 and 5-4 in 2014. 

REWRITING THE RECORD BOOKS
•    Matia Cristiani, who already became the program's all-time leader in singles (110), doubles (114) and combined victories (224) earlier this season, needs one more singles win to match former teammate Olvia Soffer's '25 record of 31 set back in 2022-23, and one more doubles triumph to match Soffer's mark of 32 achieved in 2023-24. 
•    Matia also is just one win shy of matching her own single-season record of 61 combined victories set during the 2023-24 campaign. 

ANOTHER TOUGH TEST
•    Saturday's championship match will be Babson's 14th this season against teams ranked in the ITA Top 40. 
•    The Beavers are 9-4 versus nationally-ranked foes this season, which includes four top-15 wins.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
•    Last Saturday's loss to MIT snapped a run of 22 consecutive wins for the Beavers when claiming the doubles point. 
•    Babson owns winning streaks of 38 matches at number one singles, 34 matches at number two singles and 36 matches at number one doubles entering Sunday's final. 
•    The Green and White is 13-0 this season when winning at number three doubles and 12-0 when winning at number five singles. 

UP NEXT
•    Both Babson and MIT are expected to receive a bid to the NCAA Tournament when the field is announced on Monday at 12 p.m.