Saturday, William and Mary traveled to Kalamazoo to face off against Western Michigan. The Tribe (6-2) faltered on the road, falling 6-1 to the Broncos (8-1). Senior Alec Miller’s third-set victory at the No. 2 spot marked the College’s only point of the contest.
Doubles play ended in favor of the Broncos, as they won all three matches. The Tribe duo of senior Lars de Boer and junior Tristan Bautil fell 6-3 at the No. 3 spot against Kris Knof and Lenhard Haupt. Freshman Michael Chen and senior Christian Cargill dropped their match at the No. 2 spot to Broncos Jannik Opitz and Kennosuke Nouchi. Miller and freshman Louis Newman took on Maik Steiner and Eric Olivarez at the No. 1 spot, ultimately falling 7-5.
The Broncos dominated singles play, winning five straight singles matches before Miller was able to secure the Tribe’s sole point in his match at the No. 2 spot against Stiner.
Newman fell at the No. 4 spot 6-1, 6-4 to Opitz. Soon after, Cargill lost 6-1, 6-2 at the No. 1 spot against Stiner. The Broncos third-straight victory came at the No. 3 spot with de Boer falling 6-1, 6-4 to Haupt. This loss at the No. 3 spot put the Tribe down 4-0, marking Western Michigan’s success in the matchup. The Broncos continued their triumph in singles play with a win at the No. 5 spot, as freshman Finbar Talcott fell 6-2, 7-7 against Olivarez. At the No. 6 spot, freshman Sebastian Quiros took the first set against Matej Svjetlicic 7-5 before losing the second set 6-4. In a hard-fought third set, Quiros fell 10-8, increasing Western Michigan’s lead to 5-0.
At the No. 2 spot, Miller took on Kennosuke Nouchi. After a close 7-6 first set, Miller dropped the second set 6-2. The tiebreaker set commenced, and Miller came out on top in a 10-6 victory.
Sunday, the College came off Saturday’s loss with a 5-2 triumph over Valparaiso (2-5). The Tribe dominated singles play, again unable to claim the doubles point.
The Crusaders took an early 1-0 lead by securing the doubles point with wins at the top two spots. Tribe duo Miller and Newman fell to Valparaiso 6-4 at the No. 1 spot, followed by the defeat of Chen and Cargill 6-1 at the No. 2 spot. The match between pair de Boer and Bautil and Crusaders Brian Pecyna and Franklin Brozovich at the No. 3 spot was abandoned at 5-3 in favor of the Tribe.
Cargill came out on top at the No. 1 spot against Chad Kissell after dropping the first set 6-3. Cargill defeated Kissell in two close final sets, 7-5, 6-3, to claim his victory at the top spot. Miller won his third-straight match at the No. 2 spot 6-2, both sets against Brandon Anacona. Newman defeated Crusader Gardner 6-3, 6-2 at the No. 4 spot, followed by a 6-2, 7-5 victory by Talcott at the No. 5 spot to clinch the Tribe victory. Quiros finished up the College’s wins with a successful tiebreaker victory at the No. 6 spot. Despite dropping a close first set 7-6, Quiros retaliated with a 6-2 second-set factory followed by a 6-0 takeover of a third set. At the No. 3 spot, de Boer fell to Kenyatte 6-3 both sets.
The Tribe will return home to welcome Yale to the McCormack-Nagelsen Tennis Center Feb. 24 at 11 a.m.