Is Matia Cristiani ’26 the Greatest of All Time?

Editor / Writer

Eric Beato

Eric Beato is the Editor of Babson Thought & Action and Babson Magazine. A native of Chicago and a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism, Eric has worked as an editor and writer at newspapers across the country, including the Chicago Sun-Times and Boston Herald. Eric joined Babson College in 2019 after working as the communications director for a private educational travel company and as the managing editor of six regional sports publications.

August 4, 2026

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She won three NCAA national championships, including the women’s singles title this spring, capping an extraordinary tennis career at Babson, raising the question:

Is Matia Cristiani ’26 …

The Greatest of All Time?

Michael Kopelman knew before she ever set foot on campus. The Babson director of tennis realized the first time he watched Matia Cristiani ’26 play tennis in person that she could be a college national champion.

In 2022, he flew to Naples, Florida, for the University Sports Program College Tennis Showcase, a prime event for coaches to get a live look at so many of the top high school tennis players, an opportunity to see a little bit of a lot of players all at once. But Kopelman couldn’t take his eyes off what he saw on the court when Cristiani was playing.

“I sat and watched every single one of her matches from start to finish,” Kopelman says. “It was very clear to me that (a national championship) was her ceiling, and that was what she was capable of. Even me thinking that, she exceeded my expectations.”

This spring, Cristiani capped a historic tennis career at Babson, completing a perfect season to win the NCAA Division III national championship in singles. It’s her third national title in three years, following back-to-back doubles championships with Olivia Soffer ’25, and only the second individual national title in Babson Athletics history.

Cristiani’s tennis accomplishments are unmatched (see sidebar). She was an eight-time All-American, a finalist for the prestigious Honda Award, and the ITA Division III Player of the Year, one of only five Babson athletes to win national player of the year honors.

“She had an illustrious career,” says Mike Lynch, the Pamela P. and Brian M. Barefoot Associate Vice President for Athletics and Athletics Advancement. “Together with Olivia, they rewrote the record books and put Babson tennis and our program in many ways on the map. The two of them set a standard so high it felt impossible to ever reach. Until this year, when Matia took her play to an even higher level. She departs as the most accomplished athlete in the history of our program.”

In the history of Babson Athletics, there have been nine NCAA championships, and Cristiani has won three. It raises the question: Is Matia Cristiani the greatest student-athlete in Babson history?

TROPHY CASE: Matia Cristiani ’26 has become accustomed to hoisting hardware on the court the past three years, winning three NCAA tennis championships, including the singles title this spring (above) and two doubles titles with Olivia Soffer ’25 in 2025 (top right) and 2024 (bottom right). Cristiani reached the national final in doubles four consecutive years, including in 2023 with Soffer and this year with Sandra Sikharulidze ’29.

The Final Hurdle

Although she was so highly regarded out of high school in El Salvador, Cristiani didn’t rest once she arrived at Babson in 2022. Or anytime.

“She’s such a workhorse, and she’s always the first one to ask for extra practices,” says Emma Hall, who took over as women’s head coach after Cristiani’s first year as Kopelman moved into the role as director of tennis and men’s head coach. At that point, Cristiani and Soffer had just reached the national final of the doubles competition in Cristiani’s first year, and the duo was en route to back-to-back national titles in doubles in 2024 and 2025.

Cristiani’s senior season, though, as the clear-cut No. 1 singles player on the team, was different. “Winning the singles national championship was my goal for the whole season,” she says.

“There’s an immense amount of pressure that she’s dealing with,” Kopelman says. “It’s almost kind of expected to win every single time she goes out there, so that’s something that she’s learned to deal with and handled extremely well this year.”

With the expectations, Cristiani needed to overcome a final hurdle to reach the peak of the singles mountaintop.

“Tennis is so mental, so Matia kind of just made it her mission to handle the nerves better,” Hall says. “This year, Matia was the most confident she’d ever been, stepping into every match, knowing that she could find a way to win.”

And she did. She posted a perfect 37-0 season in singles, including 34 straight-set victories. She also paired with a new doubles partner, Sandra Sikharulidze ’29, and they advanced to the national final, where they lost a heartbreaking tiebreaker. Both Cristiani and Sikharulidze also advanced to the singles semifinals and nearly faced each other for the title.

Along the way, Cristiani also led the team to new heights. The Beavers defeated MIT to win their first NEWMAC conference championship since 2014, then advanced to the semifinals of the NCAA tournament for the first time in their history.

Cristiani says the team’s success was the highlight of her season, and she credits her coaches and teammates for inspiring her success.

“I had such a good support system throughout my four years at Babson, and I think that a big part that I was able to accomplish everything was because of my teammates,” she says. “I just love to play for them. That’s why I put in so much hard work into my practices, because I just wanted to play better for them.”

Matia Cristiani’s

Accomplishments

Three-time NCAA Division III national champion, winning singles title in 2026 and doubles title twice (with Olivia Soffer ’25) in 2024 and 2025

Women’s tennis finalist for the Honda Award (2026), presented by the Collegiate Women’s Sports Awards

Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Division III Player of the Year in 2026

ITA Cup singles champion in 2025

ITA New England Championships singles and double titles in 2023 and 2025

ITA Division III and Northeast RegionalSenior Player of the Year in 2026

Eight-time ITA All-America selection

NEWMAC Player of the Year in 2026, and all-league first team in both singles and doubles four years in a row

“That’s just awesome to be a part of such a good and close athletics community.”
— Matia Cristiani ’26

The GOAT Debate

The Greatest of All Time. The GOAT. It’s a lofty title and nearly impossible to compare athletes across generations and across sports. Babson has a host of impressive contenders (see sidebar), but Cristiani’s resume firmly plants her at the heart of the debate.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that she’s the best athlete in Babson Athletics history,” Kopelman says. “I had extremely high goals, and she exceeded those. She’s done everything that you could hope to achieve, and then some. I just hope that she fully grasps what she’s achieved, and how proud of her that we are.”

The soft-spoken, humble Cristiani is simply content to be mentioned.

“It’s just so great, and cool to see that I was able to do so much for the athletics program and the tennis program,” says Cristiani, whose tennis future remains unclear. “That’s just awesome to be a part of such a good and close athletics community.”

“I will let others debate who’s the GOAT across Babson Athletics,” Lynch says. “Each sport likely has one, and Matia has made a very strong case. What is definite is that we may never see another like her.”

On that point, there’s little debate. “I don’t think I’ll ever coach somebody like her again,” Hall says.

For Kopelman, Cristiani’s championship and career are the culmination of what he first saw on those courts in Florida. “I’m just extremely grateful that she came to Babson.”

Babson’s Best

In addition to Matia Cristiani ’26, here are the other Babson student-athletes who have won national player of the year awards or individual national titles:

Joey Flannery ’17 (men’s basketball) was named NABC Player of the Year in 2016 and both NABC and D3hoops.com Player of the Year in 2017, when he led Babson to the Division III national championship. He graduated ninth in Division III history in scoring.

Jamie Murray ’16 (ice hockey) received the Sid Watson Award as the Division III Player of the Year in 2016.

Tom Sasso ’88 (ice hockey) was a two-time Division III Player of the Year when it was the Hobey Baker Award (1987, 1988). As a pro player, he recorded three seasons of at least 90 points in the minors.

Olivia Soffer ’25 (women’s tennis) won two national titles in doubles, with Cristiani, in 2024 and 2025, and was named the women’s tennis finalist for the Honda Award in 2025.

David Weisman ’98 (men’s tennis) won the singles national championship in 1998.