NEW LONDON, Mass. — 

The United States Coast Guard Academy tennis team was handed a 2-5 loss on Wednesday, April 15th, by New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) foes Babson College. Both of the Bears' points came from singles wins. Heading into the day, the Beavers were sitting at #15 in the most recent Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings.

Coast Guard moves to 2-8 on the season and 1-5 in the NEWMAC, while Babson improves to 14-4 overall and remains undefeated against conference opponents at 6-0. The Beavers will hit the courts again on Thursday, April 16th, for a for a non-conference set at home against #25 Brandeis College (10-4).

Babson started the afternoon with a 1-0 advantage after scoring two wins at doubles. The Beavers opened with a 6-2 victory on #2 before Logan Kwon (University Place, Wash.) and Anthony Gregoire (Hagatna, Guam) evened it with a 6-3 win against Ryan Patrick and Gabe Davis. Babson ultimately took the first point of the day with a 7-6 win on #1, clinching it with a 7-4 tiebreaker.

The visitors clinched victory with singles wins at #2 (6-0, 6-0), #5 (6-0, 6-0), and #3 (6-2, 6-2), also winning at #4 for good measure (6-0, 6-3). Coast Guard's first point of the day came from freshman Lucas Peltier-Salazar (Newhall, Calif.) at #6, who went three sets with Davis to earn his first career singles win. Peltier-Salazar lost the first set, 1-6, before bouncing back for a 6-4 win in set two and a 10-8 victory in the tiebreaker.

Bears ace Ben Bonetto (Bend, Oreg.) closed the afternoon with another three-setter at #1 against Sebastian Mendoza. The junior claimed set one with a 6-3 performance before Mendoza evened it with a 1-6 showing in the second. Ultimately, Bonetto needed 10-7 victory in the tiebreaker to improve to 5-6 on the season and 3-3 in the NEWMAC.

Coast Guard tennis is set to close their 2026 season on Saturday, April 18th, on their home courts behind Roland Hall against fellow NEWMAC side Wheaton College (7-7, 1-5 NEWMAC). The Lyons took last season's meeting in Norton, 1-6, with Bonetto and doubles partner Brendan Love (Winchester, Va.) taking the lone point with their win at #1 pairs.