Babson Doubles Team Wins Tennis National Championship

May 28, 2024

Two players pose for a photo while holding their trophies

Olivia Soffer ’25 and Matia Cristiani ’26 display their trophies after winning the NCAA Division III doubles national championship in women’s tennis.

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Babson tennis stars Olivia Soffer ’25 and Matia Cristiani ’26 teamed up to make history Monday, winning the College’s first national championship in women’s sports.

Babson’s dynamic duo won the NCAA Division III doubles national championship in women’s tennis, defeating the top-seeded team of Nikolina Batoshvilil and Alisha Chulani of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in three sets, 6-1, 6-7 (1-7), 6-4, at the Dwight Davis Memorial Tennis Center in St. Louis. In the semifinals, the fourth-seeded Soffer and Cristiani defeated Deliala Friedman and Lily Dounchis of Amherst College, 7-6 (7-2), 6-4.

It is Babson’s first national championship in women’s sports and the seventh overall in Babson Athletics history. Five teams—men’s soccer (1975, 1979, 1980), men’s ice hockey (1984), and men’s basketball (2017)—have won national titles, and David Weisman ’98 won the men’s tennis singles championship in 1998.

A year ago, Soffer and Cristiani were national runners-up in doubles, reaching the national championship match. This year, they survived a thrilling final to claim the top prize, finishing the season with a record of 32-2 in doubles.

In singles play, Cristiani, who recently won the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Division III Player to Watch Award, advanced to the national semifinals with three victories Saturday and Sunday. She defeated Danna Taylor of Carnegie Mellon, Maegan Deng of Redlands, and Katya Shephard-Johnson of MIT. Soffer, who was the national runner-up in singles last year, was upset in the first round by Chulani.

Watch the doubles championship-clinching point below, and see more coverage at Babson Athletics: