William and Mary started the season strong with the women winning the season opener for the third straight year. The women beat Richmond 6-1 and annihilated Elon 7-0 at home, securing the first Colonial Athletic Association win of the regular season. The men improved to 2-1 in the regular season with a 4-3 win against Brown and 5-2 against Boston College after losing the season opener to Yale.
Saturday, freshman Rosie Cheng and junior Olivia Thaler won doubles 6-1, a nearly flawless set over Richmond opponents in the season opener. Senior Marie Faure, juniors Ekaterina Stepanova and Thaler and sophomore Lauren Goodman secured wins in both singles and doubles matches.
Senior Marie Faure, juniors Ekaterina Stepanova and Thaler and sophomore Lauren Goodman secured wins in both singles and doubles matches.
Both Thaler and Goodman won 3-0 straight-set wins.
Cheng went on to secure her first career dual-match win at No. 4 against Elon Sunday. Thaler took the No. 5 spot and her sixth win this year after defeating Elon opponent 6-2 and 6-0, improving to 2-0 in dual-match play for the season. Junior Maria Groener crushed her Elon rival 6-0 shutouts in both sets in the No. 6 spot.
Although the men lost to Yale 5-2, senior Damon Niquet and junior Alec Miller secured singles wins. The Tribe men started out Saturday’s match against Brown down 2-1, but three-set wins by junior Christian Cargill, senior Aidan Talcott and Niquet advanced the Tribe to a 4-3 victory against the Bears.
The Tribe dominated the Bears in doubles with wins in the No. 1 and No. 3 spots. Junior Ryan Newman and Talcott beat the Brown No. 1 opponents 6-4, while Cargill and junior Lars de Boer secured a win in the No. 3 spot 6-3.
The men continued their win streak to 2-1 with the defeat of Boston College.
The men continued their win streak to 2-1 with the defeat of Boston College. Senior Addison Appleby’s first dual-match win of the year at the No. 3 spot gained the Tribe a 2-0 lead. An exciting match set was won by sophomore Michael Ruamthong, his first career dual-match win, after a 7-6 tiebreaker.
The women continue their season in Durham against Duke Jan. 28 while the men take on Navy at home Jan. 29 at 11 a.m.