NORTON, Mass. - The Wheaton College (Mass.) men's tennis team played outdoors in New England for the first time in 2026 as it fell 7-0 to number nine ranked Babson College in Friday afternoon's New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference match in Norton.

The Lyons fell to 6-4 overall and 0-2 in the NEWMAC following the loss, while the Beavers improved to 9-3 overall and 2-0 in the conference.

The Parisian pairing of sophomore Pablo Munoz (Paris, France) and junior Paul Berteaux (Paris, France) were up first in the second singles match. They took on sophomores Sebastian Mendoza (Weston, Fla.) and Edward Wang (Burr Ridge, Ill.) to kick off the dual. The Wheaton tandem fell short of the Beavers, losing the opening match 6-2.

Junior Jake Murray (San Diego, Calif.) and junior Calvin Van Dyke (Albuquerque, N.M.) were up next in the number three doubles, and suffered the same fate as Munoz and Berteaux. The Babson pairing of first year Max Lidman (Stockholm, Sweden) and senior Martin Mejia (Cali, Columbia) faced a bit more resistance in the third doubles match, but still came out on top of the Lyons with a 6-4 win.

With the doubles point already belonging to the Beavers, the Lyons looked to junior Jaime Gálligo (Madrid, Spain) and first year Landon Wyshner (Winston Salem, N.C.) to prevent the Babson sweep from the number one doubles. The Wheaton pair fell to the Babson duo 6-3 despite three straight points for the Lyons.

With the doubles sweep officially confirmed for Babson, attention turned to the singles matches. Berteaux clashed with Zlobinsky in the fourth singles match, and dropped the first set 6-2. Zlobinsky slammed the door shut in the second set, giving Babson their second point of the match.

Murray finished his singles second as he took on first year Rishi Batlanki (Monroe Township, N.J.) in the number five match. Murray fell to Batlanki in straight-sets to give Babson their third point of the match.

Van Dyke was up next in the number six singles, and faced first year Sourish Gadhi (Morganville, N.J.). Van Dyke was held up by the Beavers rookie, falling in straight-sets 6-1, 6-1. The win secured the match victory for Babson, but the final result was still to be decided.  

Wyshner and Mendoza tangled in the third singles match, but the Wheaton rookie was unable to gain any ground. He fell to Mendoza in straight-sets as well, dropping the frames 6-2, 6-0. The penultimate singles match saw Munoz and Wang vie for a point, but the Beaver came out on top once again. Wang took the match win in straight-sets, downing Munoz 6-1, 6-4. 

The final match of the day was also the longest, as Gálligo pushed senior Alexander Merson (Palisades Park, N.J.) to the edge at number one. After dropping the first set 6-1, Gálligo tightened his grip on his racket to force a tiebreaker out of Merson. The Wheaton junior even had a chance to claim the set, but Merson managed to fight back from a 6-3 deficit to take the set 7-6 (1). 

Wheaton will head to Cambridge, Mass. tomorrow as it continues its NEWMAC slate against Massachusetts Institute of Technology at 1:00 pm. Babson will have a longer trip as it takes on Haverford College tomorrow at 2:00 pm in Pennsylvania.