William and Mary crushed Florida A&M, 6-1, in its opening match of the 2015 dual-match season; however, the Tribe couldn’t follow up that victory. The College lost 9-3 to the University of Florida Saturday.
Last season, the Tribe won 17 matches, advanced to the Colonial Athletic Association semifinals, and finished the season No. 6 in the ITA Atlantic Region. Senior Will Juggins entered this season with 36 career singles wins and 38 career doubles wins, the most of any Tribe player. He won 18 singles matches in the top three positions last year.
Senior Aaron Chaffee entered with 15 career singles wins and 33 career doubles wins. Junior Scott Huang, another notable player, entered the season with 26 career singles wins. Juggins and Chaffee cruised undefeated through the Tribe Invitational doubles competition last fall, the only duo to do so.
Juggins failed to continue his success in the season opener, losing 6-3, 6-1 to Courage Okungbowa in the No. 2 spot. His teammates picked up the slack, though, and the Tribe won the remaining five singles matches.
Freshman Christian Cargill won 6-4, 6-2 in the top singles spot versus A&M’s Karlyn Small, while sophomores Damon Niquet and Addison Appleby secured victories at No. 3 and No. 4. Huang won 6-1, 6-0 at No. 5. Playing in the No.6 singles slot, freshman Alec Miller picked up the most decisive singles victory of the afternoon, winning 6-0, 6-0 and securing his third straight win of the season. None of the matches advanced to the third set.
Chaffee and Cargill partnered up at the No. 1 doubles spot, taking out Walner Espinoza and Carlos Augstin Waitman in a decisive 6-1 victory. Juggins and freshman Lars DeBoer won 6-2 at No. 2 while Niquet and Appleby won No. 3 over Florida A&M’s Jalen Evans and Jason Ulacio, 6-0. Together, Niquet and Appleby hold a 5-0 career doubles record.
On Saturday, the Tribe lost 9-3 to the University of Florida. The College now posts a 0-3 record against the No. 13 Gators.
Florida won six of the eight singles matches; de Boer and Chaffee won their matches at No. 7 and No. 8, respectively, to prevent a complete blow-out. Cargill, once again playing in the top singles spot, put up a good fight against Florida’s Maxx Lipman, but ultimately lost 7-6, 6-7, 6-3 in just over two and a half hours.
Doubles did not go much better for the Tribe: the Appleby-Niquet duo won their doubles match 10-3 at the No. 3 slot, but the other three doubles teams —Chaffe and Cargill, Juggins and de Boer, Miller and Huang — each lost decisively.
The College hosts its first home match of the season Tuesday versus Norfolk State. The match begins at 11 a.m.