NEW LONDON, Conn. – Babson, after dropping the opening set in both matches, won a pair of three set matches at both #1 and #2 singles as the Beavers rallied for a 5-4 win over Coast Guard in the battle of New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) unbeaten teams.
The Beavers finish NEWMAC play 4-0 and will be the top seed as these teams meet again on Saturday for the NEWMAC tournament championship. Coast Guard finishes conference play at 3-1 and is 3-3 overall.
Coast Guard won two of the three doubles matches as Kyle Fager and Charles Norman posted an 8-7 win (7-4 in the tiebreaker) and Myles Decoste and Sean Dreher posted an 8-6 win at #2 doubles and the Bears led 2-1 heading to singles action.
Babson took a 3-2 lead with wins at #3 and #6 singles before Dreher posted a 6-2, 6-3 win to tie the match at 3-3.
The Beavers took a 4-3 lead with a 6-2, 6-4 win at #5 singles before Decoste won 6-1, 6-7, 6-3 to again tied the match 4-4.
The final match was Coast Guard's Banks Evans and Babson's Kian Yazdi at #1 singles. Evans won the opening set 6-4 and led 5-2 before Yazdi won five straight games to capture the second set 7-5 and force a third set which he would win 6-4.