This release is courtesy of Babson Athletic Communications
ORLANDO, Fla.—Sophomore Olivia Soffer (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) posted a straight-set victory in singles and teamed with first-year Matia Cristiani (San Salvador, El Salvador) for a three-set win in doubles as the Babson College women's tennis duo advanced to both national championship matches at the NCAA Division III Championships on Sunday afternoon.
Soffer, the top seed in the draw, defeated Eleni Lazaridou of Kenyon College 6-2, 6-1 in her semifinal match and then paired with Cristiani to down Lauren Rha and Nina Ye of Pomona-Pitzer 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in their doubles semifinal.
Soffer was in complete control in her singles match, winning a pair of service games and breaking Lazaridou twice to build a 4-0 first-set lead. Lazaridou won the opening game of the second but Soffer responded by winning six unanswered games to close out the match.
The Beavers took a 3-1 lead in the opening set in doubles and responded to Pomona-Pitzer pulling even by dropping just one point over its next two service games combined with a break point to take a one-set lead.
The Sagehens had their 3-0 lead to start the second trimmed to just 4-3, but answered with a break point and then rallied from love-40 down to force a decisive third set.
Soffer and Cristiani went up a break at 3-1 and then won the final two points of their next service game to take a 4-1 lead. They held serve again to make it 5-2 and won all four points in their final service game to close out the victory.
Soffer will meet second-seeded Angie Zhou, last year's runner-up, in Monday's Division III Singles final at 10 a.m. Soffer and Cristiani will then take on Brooke Despriet and Katherine Petty of Sewanee in the doubles final.
TOURNAMENT NOTES
• Soffer improved to 31-1 on the year with Sunday's singles victory, which includes a 17-match winning streak that dates back to February.
• Soffer and Cristiani are now 23-3 this season in doubles play.
• While the Beavers' duo are the first females in school history to advance to the singles and doubles national championship matches, Babson Hall of Famer David Weisman '98 won the 1998 Division III men's singles title.