NORTON, MA- The third-seeded Wheaton College men's tennis team
fell to number-two Babson College by a 5-1 count during Saturday's
semifinal round of the New England Women's and Men's Athletic
Conference (NEWMAC) Tournament at the Norton Middle School.
The Beavers advanced to this afternoon's final to take on
10-time defending champion Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT), which downed fourth seed United States Coast Guard Academy
earlier today. Babson is now 10-10 overall, while Wheaton saw
its season come to a close at 11-7.
The visitors raced to a 3-0 advantage after doubles play, led by
the tandem of junior Ken Lin (Cavendish Heights, Hong
Kong/Milton Academy) and freshman Taylor Dutton
(Portland, OR/Catlin Gabel), who notched an 8-2 triumph at
number three.
Juniors Alex Kamergorodsky (Millis, MA/Needham)
and Brian Lafayette (Burlington, VT/Burlington)
won 8-6 in the top doubles slot, while classmate Moises
Numa (Tallahassee, FL/Pinellas Park Senior) and freshman
Justin Albert (Newton, MA/Newton South) edged
senior Nii Manfoi Davies (Town & Country, MO/The
Principia) and junior Kyle Hudgins (Uxbridge,
MA/Uxbridge), 9-7 at two.
Babson was victorious in two of the three completed singles
matches to claim the overall win, as Kamergorodsky knocked off
freshman Neall Oliver (Portland, ME/Deering) by a
6-2, 6-1 final at number one. Wheaton junior James
Little (Mount Desert, ME/Mount Desert Island) won a 7-6
tiebreaker during his opening set at second singles before his
opponent retired midway through the second set, as the Lyons
narrowed their deficit to 4-1.
At number five, Lafayette overcame a first-set hole against
sophomore Brian Krantz (Milford, CT/Joseph A.
Foran) to clinch the Beaver victory. Trailing 6-4
after one, Lafayette stormed back to post convincing scores of 6-2
and 6-1 in the final two sets.
Two of the three unfinished matches went to a third set, as
Wheaton sophomore Harry Altman (Riverdale, NY/The Dwight
School) was trailing Babson sophomore Austin Conti
(Murray Hill, NJ/The Pingry School) at number four while
Lin was ahead of Hudgins in the third position.
