BRUNSWICK, Maine—Sophomores
Sebastian Mendoza (Weston, Fla.) and
Edward Wang (Burr Ridge, Ill.) recorded victories in both singles and doubles as No. 12 Babson College came from behind to defeat No. 23 Skidmore College in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday afternoon inside the Maine Racquet & Fitness Club.
Babson, which has now won eight consecutive matches, improves to 19-4 overall while advancing to its second consecutive regional final and the third in program history. Skidmore sees its season come to a close with an overall record of 17-5.
The Beavers were forced to rally after dropping the doubles point despite a 6-3 victory by Mendoza and Wang at number two. The Thoroughbreds' duo of Yuval Goodman (Toronto, Ontario) and Harrison Gradin (Southampton, N.Y.) edged senior
Alexander Merson (Palisades Park, N.J.) and first-year
Maxim Zlobinsky (Greenvale, N.Y.) 7-5 at number one, while Ege Topbas (Istanbul, Turkey) and Kyle Lundberg (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) topped Babson senior
Martin Mejia (Cali, Colombia) and junior
Louis Bourn (Geneva, Switzerland) 7-5 at number three.
Merson avenged his loss in doubles with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Goodman at number one singles and Wang was a 6-2, 7-5 winner over Lundberg at number two for Babson's second point. Topbas won a first-set tiebreaker on the way to a 7-6, 6-0 triumph over Beavers' first-year
Max Lidman (Stockholm, Sweden) at number four singles to even the match before the Green and White sealed its win with the next two points.
First-year
Sourish Gadhi (Morganville, N.J.) beat Skidmore's Radin Sadeghi (Toronto, Ontario) 6-3, 7-6 at number five and Mendoza dropped the first set before rallying to claim a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over King at number three. The only match not to be decided came at number six singles where Beavers' first-year
Dylan O'Connell-DeCerchio (Santa Monica, Calif.) was clinging to a 6-4, 2-6, 4-3 lead.
Babson will face No. 6 Bowdoin in the regional final for the second consecutive season on Sunday at 11 a.m.
MATCH NOTES
• The Beavers are now 2-1 all-time against Skidmore with both victories coming this season.
• Babson's 19 wins are the second most in single-season program history behind last year's squad, which finished 22-3 after reaching the NCAA quarterfinals.
• Mendoza and Wang extended their single-season record with their 27th doubles win of the season on Saturday.
• The Beavers are now 4-3 this season when dropping the doubles point, which includes winning both matches against the Thoroughbreds after losing two of three doubles contests.
