CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Nationally ranked No. 7 MIT fell to No. 8 Babson College, 4-1, in the NEWMAC Women's Tennis Championship on Sunday afternoon at the DuPont Tennis Courts. At the conclusion of the match,
Artemis Pados received the Laurels of Academic Excellence Award which honors the student-athlete with the highest cumulative GPA competing in the NEWMAC Championship.
THE BASICS:
- Score: No. 8 Babson 4, No. 7 MIT 1
- Records: No. 7 MIT (16-3 Overall); No. 8 Babson (16-4 Overall)
HOW IT HAPPENED - DOUBLES:
- Alessandra Cristiani and Elizabeth Shu jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the No. 2 position, but Carley Chen and Chloe Zeng rallied for a 6-3 victory.
- At the No. 3 spot, Katie Driscoll and Anastasia Samets took the opening game against Dana Kamal and Grace Starcher; however, Babson claimed the next four games. Driscoll and Samets battled back, tying the match twice, the last at 5-5, but Kamal and Wang responded with back-to-back victories.
- In a back-and-forth battle at the top spot, Artemis Pados and Alaina Kolli broke Matia Cristiani and Alessandra Sikharulidze to take a 4-3 edge. The Beavers picked up the next two games; however, Pados and Kolli evened the match at 5-5. Cristiani and Sikharulidze countered with two wins to secure the match and the doubles point.
HOW IT HAPPENED - SINGLES:
- In the No. 2 position, Zeng lost to Sikharulidze, 6-1, 6-1.
- Chen inched out to a 3-1 lead against Tina Liu in the first set at the No. 5 spot before going on to record a 6-3 victory. Chen took the second set, 6-1, to register what proved to be MIT's only point of the match.
- After trading games to start the match at No. 3 singles, Shu pulled away for a 6-2 victory against Driscoll. Tied at 2-2 in the second set, Shu won three games in a row en route to a 6-3 decision.
- In a tightly contested opening set in the No. 6 slot, Kamal won back-to-back games to take a 5-3 edge. Rayna Li won the next game, but Kamal thwarted the comeback attempt by breaking Li back for the 6-4 win. Following a back-and-forth start to the second set, Kamal rattled off three straight victories to take a 4-2 lead. Li won the next game, but both players traded games as Kamal emerged with a 6-4 victory which clinched the match for Babson.
- When the match was halted, Matia Cristiani led Saina Deshpande, 6-2, 5-4 in the No. 1 position while Sophia Yang had a 7-5, 4-2 advantage against Alessandra Cristiani in the No. 4 position.
UP NEXT:
- MIT now awaits word on an at-large bid to the 2026 NCAA Division III Women's Tenns Championship. The complete field will be announced in a selection show on Monday, May 4 at 12:00 PM Eastern on www.ncaa.com.
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