WELLESLEY, Mass. – No. 15 Babson College defeated No. 16 Wellesley College tennis, 4-0, in the NEWMAC Women's Tennis Championships Semifinals on Saturday at The Amy Batchelor '88, Trustee, Tennis Courts. With the win, the Beavers (13-5 Overall) now move on to play top seed MIT on the road at 12:00 PM tomorrow in the finals.

Babson struck first in doubles, with No. 4 ranked senior Olivia Soffer (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) and junior Matia Cristiani (San Salvador, El Salvador) snatching No. 1 doubles, 6-2 over Blue first-years Kotistha Modak (Chennai, India) and Sofia Corte-Real (Stamford, Conn.).

Wellesley (15-4 Overall) countered at No. 2 doubles with a 6-3 win. Junior Emilee Pak (Chicago, Ill.) and first-year Rianna Mariotti (Forest Hills, N.Y.) took an early 3-0 lead and never let go, putting the pressure on the visitors.

It all came down to No. 3 doubles for the initial point. An early break proved to be the difference as Babson went up 2-0, before the teams traded holds until sophomore Dana Kamal (Cairo, Egypt) and first-year Mia Sorrentino (Miami, Fla.) defeated sophomore Lily Cade (Minneapolis, Minn.) and Suzanne Xu (Boyds, Md.), 6-4, to put the Beavers up, 1-0.

M. Cristiani upped the Babson lead to 2-0, taking down Xu, 6-1, 6-2 at No. 2 singles.

A. Cristiani made it 3-0 to push the Beavers within a point of victory by beating Corte-Real 6-1, 6-1. 

Junior Kamila Stasiowska (Burlington, Conn.) finished the job for Babson, pushing past first-year Nandini Patel (Phoenix, Ariz.), 6-4, 6-2, at No. 5 singles.

At the time the match ended, No. 1, 4 and 6 singles were still in play. O. Soffer led 6-4, 2-1 at No. 1 singles. C. Soffer was up 7-6(4), 1-1 versus first-year Sophie Buttorff (Tacoma, Wash.) in the No. 4 slot. Finally, Mariotti was having the most success for the Blue, up 6-3, 5-1 against Kamal at No. 6.