No. 12 Men's Tennis vs. No. 7 Bowdoin
NCAA Tournament | Third Round
Sunday, May 10 | 11:00 a.m.
Pickard Tennis Courts | Brunswick, Maine

WHAT TO KNOW
• After rallying for a victory over No. 24 Skidmore in Saturday's second round, No. 12 Babson will take on No. 7 Bowdoin in an NCAA Tournament third-round match on Sunday in a rematch of last year's third round match-up.

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Friday, May 8 | First Round 
Roger Williams 4, Farmingdale State 1 
No. 24 Skidmore 4, Bridgewater State 0

Saturday, May 9 | Second Round
No. 7 Bowdoin 4, Roger Williams 0 
No. 12 Babson 4, No. 24 Skidmore 2

Sunday, May 10 | Regional Final
No. 12 Babson vs. No. 7 Bowdoin, 11 a.m. 

SERIES HISTORY
• Babson is 2-15 all-time against Bowdoin in a series that dates back to 1997.
• The Beavers edged the Polar Bears in last year's NCAA Tournament third round, 4-3, to break a 13-match losing streak in the series but Bowdoin blanked the Green and White, 7-0, in this year's regular season match on March 21.
• Prior to last year, Babson's lone win in the all-time series was a 4-3 victory on April 11, 1997, in Babson Park. 
• The only other postseason matchup between the programs also came back in 1997 as the Polar Bears defeated the Green and White, 5-2, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on May 11 in Williamstown, Mass. 

LAST MEETING
• After narrowly winning the three doubles matches by scores of 7-6 (7-4), 7-5, and 7-6 (7-4), Bowdoin swept the singles matches to capture third place at the Stag-Hen Invitational in Claremont, Calif.
• The Polar Bears got straight set victories by senior Mark Kneiss at number one, Cameron Zia at four, Simon Catanzaro at five and Andrew Mendelson at six. Sophomore Jackson Codd outlasted sophomore Sebastian Mendoza 6-2, 6-7 (4-7), 1-0 (12-10) at number three, and Kiran Garapati edged sophomore Edward Wang 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 at number two.

LAST YEAR'S NCAA MATCH
• Mendoza won the clinching point with a 6-4, 6-3 victory at number six singles in the NCAA Tournament Brunswick Regional Final on May 10, 2025 inside the Falmouth Foreside Fit. 
• All three doubles matches went down to the to the wire. Babson's Ole Lepsoe '25 and senior Alexander Merson were 6-4 winners at number one, Bowdoin's Kneiss and Codd won the final two games for a 6-4 triumph at number two, and Bowdoin's duo of senior Nick Tamas and junior Aiden Dorros defeated Wesley Zhang '25 and Wang at number three, 7-6 (7-3).
• Wang cruised to a 6-1, 6-2 win at number four for the first point, Brady Anderson '25 won 6-2, 6-1 at number two and Merson followed with a 6-4, 6-3 victory to give Babson a 3-1 advantage in the match. Kneiss battled back from a set down at number one to edge Lepsoe, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, while Garapati was a 6-3, 6-1 winner over Zhang at number five to tie the match at 3-all before Mendoza pulled out a 6-4, 6-3 decision at number six.

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
NCAA Tournament Appearance: 6th
Best NCAA Finish: 2025 quarterfinals 
• No. 12 Babson (19-4) has won eight consecutive matches after coming from behind to defeat No. 24 Skidmore in Saturday's second round match, 4-2.
• Mendoza and Wang recorded victories in both singles and doubles to lead the Beavers, who were forced to rally after dropping the doubles point despite a 6-3 victory by Mendoza and Wang at number two. Merson avenged his loss in doubles with a 6-4, 6-3 victory at number one singles and Wang was a 6-2, 7-5 winner at number two. First-year Sourish Gadhi won 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 at number three.
• Merson is 19-2 overall in singles and 11-1 in dual matches at number one, Wang is 17-6 overall, including 5-0 at number one and 9-4 at number two, and Zlobinsky is 16-6 this year, including 13-5 in dual matches. Mendoza (12-11) has 10 wins in dual matches, Lidman (10-4) is 9-1 in dual matches, and first-years Gadhi (13-6) and Dylan O'Connell-DeCerchio (13-3) both have 13 wins overall.
• Wang and Mendoza are 27-6 at doubles, including 13-5 in dual matches, while Merson and Zobinsky are 10-5, including 7-4 at number one doubles.

SCOUTING THE POLAR BEARS
NCAA Tournament Appearance: 24th
Best NCAA Finish: National Champions (2016)
• No. 7 Bowdoin (18-4) bounced back from a 4-1 loss to Tufts in the NESCAC Championship match with a 4-0 sweep over Roger Williams in Saturday NCAA Tournament second-round match.
• The Polar Bears took the doubles point in quick fashion, claiming a 6-1 win from Codd and Kneiss at number one and a 6-3 victory from Catanzaro and Garapati at number two. Needing three singles wins, Bowdoin took a trio of fast, straight-set wins to clinch it as Cameron Zia (6-0, 6-1), Mendelson (6-0, 6-1), and Codd (6-2, 6-0) took care of business to clinch it for the Polar Bears.
• Bowdoin boasts a formidable line-up as Kneiss is 14-5 at number one, Garapati is 14-5 at number two, Codd is 13-3 at number three, Zia is 12-4 at number four, Catanzaro is 11-3 at number five, and Mendelson is 12-3 at number six.
• Kneiss and Codd are 13-8 at number one doubles, Garapati and Catanzaro are 15-5 at number two, and Dorros and Tamas ar 10-8 at number three.

BEAVERS IN THE POSTSEASON
• Babson is making its second straight and sixth overall NCAA Tournament appearance. 
• After dropping first round matches in both 1997 and 2013, the Beavers won their opening matches in 2014 and 2021 before winning second and third-round matches to advance to the quarterfinals last year.
• The Green and White is 2-1 all-time in second round matches with a 5-0 win over Stevenson in 2021 and a 4-0 decision over No. 36 Stevens last year following a 5-0 loss to No. 3 Middlebury back in 2014. 

TOURNAMENT TIME
• In addition to competing in the NCAA Team Tournament beginning this weekend, Babson will be represented in the NCAA Singles Tournament when the competition begins on May 23 at Champions Tennis Club in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
• Merson was one of 32 players in Division III to earn a spot in the singles draw. In addition, Wang was named as the first alternate and will have a chance to compete if any of the 32 players selected scratch.
• Merson becomes Babson's second men's player, and first since David Weisman '98 in 1998, to play in the NCAA Singles Championship. Weisman, who reached the second round of the 1997 draw, won four of his five matches to become the Beavers' first individual national champion in any sport in 1998. 

MERSON, COACHING STAFF EARN MAJOR AWARDS AS EIGHT LAND ON ALL-CONFERENCE  TEAM
• Merson was voted Player of the Year and head coach Michael Kopelman and assistants Kartik Erodula and Andrew Imrie were honored with the Coaching Staff of the Year for the third time in four seasons when the NEWMAC announced its post-season awards last week.
• Merson was joined on the All-Conference singles and doubles teams by Mondoza and Zlobinsky. Sophomore Mason Nguyen and first-year Rishi Batlanki were named All-Conference in singles and senior Martin Mejia, junior Louis Bourn and Wang earned spots on the All-Conference doubles team.

NATIONALLY RANKED FOES
• The Beavers enter the NCAA Tournament having played nine matches against teams that are in the ITA Top 30 Team Rankings.
• The Beavers are 5-4 vs. ranked teams with wins over No. 20 Rensselaer, No. 27 NYU, No. 2 Chicago, No. 26 MIT, and No. 19 Brandeis and two losses to No. 3/5 Tufts and one each to No. 7 Bowdoin and No. 20 Amherst.

MOVING UP THE CHARTS
• The Beavers have set a number of team and individual records during the 2025-26 campaign, which includes earning their highest national ranking in program history at No. 8 on March 25.
• Mendoza and Wang have won 26 doubles matches together this season, which is the most by a pairing in single-season program history. Mendoza (30) and Wang (27) bother surpassed Merson's single-season doubles win mark of 22 set last season.
• Wang (43) and Mendoza (42) also surpassed Wang's single-season combined wins mark of 41 set last season.
• Merson's 18 singles wins this spring is tied for fourth on the program's single-season list, and Wang's career total of 84 combined wins ranks fifth all-time.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
• The Beavers are 15-1 on the year and 36-2 since the beginning of last year when claiming the doubles point, with the only losses to No. 5 Tufts on March 20, 2026 and No. 1 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in last year's NCAA Tournament quarterfinal.
• The Beavers are 8-2 at number one doubles, 9-1 at number two and 6-4 at number three since the beginning of April.
• In singles, Babson has gone 10-1 at number six, 9-1 at number one, 9-2 at number two and 8-2 at number five since the start of April, including six straight wins at numbers two and five.

UP NEXT
• The winner of Sunday's third-round match will face No. 1 Chicago in a quarterfinal match on May 19.