Men's Tennis (11-7, 3-2) Advances to Seventh Straight NEWMAC Tournament Semifinal

The Wheaton College men's tennis team saw its season come to an end on Saturday in the semifinal round of the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Tournament, as the third-seeded Lyons fell by a 5-1 count against number-two Babson College in a match played at Norton Middle School. The Blue and White began their postseason run with a 5-0 triumph against visiting sixth seed Clark University on Thursday in the first round. Wheaton advanced to the semifinal round of the tournament for the seventh straight year and for the 10th time in the league's 11-year history. The youthful Lyons, who finished the season 11-4 after an 0-3 start, received 42 of their 62 singles triumphs this year from underclassmen, who played a role in 24 of 33 doubles victories.

Against Clark, the Lyons earned a trio of doubles wins before clinching the victory early in singles action. Wheaton's tandems of junior James Little (Mount Desert, ME/Mount Desert Island)/freshman Neall Oliver (Portland, ME/Deering), senior Nii Manfoi Davies (Town & Country, MO/The Principia)/junior Kyle Hudgins (Uxbridge, MA/Uxbridge) and sophomores Harry Altman (Riverdale, NY/The Dwight School)/Brian Krantz (Milford, CT/Joseph A. Foran) notched triumphs in the first through third spots, respectively, to give the hosts a 3-0 advantage. In singles play, Hudgins and freshman Cullen Garrity (Middletown, MD/Saint James School) each picked up 6-1, 6-1 wins.

Wheaton lost a pair of narrow doubles matches to Babson before Little earned the team's lone win during singles play. Little and Oliver suffered an 8-6 setback in the first doubles position, while Davies and Hudgins fell by a 9-7 count at number two. At second singles, Little captured his opening set, 7-6 before earning the victory after his opponent retired midway through the second set.