MIT Dispatches Babson to Reach Conference Finals
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – In under an hour and a quarter, MIT men's tennis team swept Babson College and earned itself a spot in Sunday's New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) tournament finals. In a match that was played to decision, MIT beat the Beavers 6-0 and led in all nine matches at DuPont Tennis Courts.
The Engineers got off to a great start, winning all three doubles matches in fairly convincing fashion. Ken Van Tilburg and Matthew Skalak won 8-3 over Simeon Human and Mitchell Henry, while Curtis Wu and Larry Pang handled Nissim Cohen-Sabban and Austin Conti by an 8-2 score. The closest match was at third doubles, where the Beavers' Rushab Tanna and Danny Schneider put in a valiant effort but were held off by Andrew Cooper and Edwin Zhang, 8-4.
Needing only to win two singles matches to secure the victory, MIT went to work and efficiently finished off Babson. The first matches to be completed saw Pang defeat Cohen-Sabban at fourth doubles (6-3, 6-0) and Brian Oldfield beat Human 6-1, 6-2 at third. Andrew Cooper also won going away, beating Tanna 6-1, 6-0 at sixth singles. Zhang and Wu were each leading their singles matches when play ended, as was Van Tilburg, who was a game away from polishing off Conti at the second spot (6-0, 5-3).
The Engineers improve to 12-4 on the year and are looking to win their 13th straight NEWMAC men's tennis tournament. MIT will await the winner of the second semi-final, between Wheaton College and the US Coast Guard Academy. That match will take place at 3:00 PM, with the final being played Sunday at 1:00 at MIT.
Babson finishes their season at 8-13, and had a 2-3 conference record this season.
