Saturday, William and Mary welcomed Colonial Athletic Association rival James Madison to the McCormack-Nagelsen Tennis Center. Coming off a three-game losing streak, the Tribe (9-6, 3-0 CAA) was looking to break the winless drought. The Tribe defeated the Dukes (12-3, 2-0 CAA) in a 7-0 landslide, its sixth-straight win over the conference foe.
To kick off the shutout, the Tribe won all three spots in doubles play. The Tribe duo of senior Alec Miller and junior Tristan Bautil defeated James Madison’s Theophile Lanthiez and Paul Mendoza 6-1 at the No. 1 spot. Senior Christian Cargill and freshman Louis Newman followed suit at the No. 2 spot, defeating the Dukes’ Alvaro Arce and Pierre Kohler 6-3. To complete the successful doubles run, the Tribe team of sophomore Brenden Volk and freshman Michael Chen defeated James Madison’s Gonzalo Adis and Tate Steinour 6-2 at the No. 3 spot.
The College continued its relentlessness in singles play. Chen was the first member of the Tribe to come out victories, defeating Adis at the No. 6 spot 6-4, 6-2. Cargill followed at the No. 2 spot, defeating Arce 7-5, 6-2 after a tight first set. Newman’s 7-6, 7-5 victory at the No. 3 spot over James Madison’s Damon Roberts put the College up 4-0, securing its victory in the conference matchup.
Freshman Finbar Talcott continued the Tribe’s singles success with his defeat of Kohler at the No. 4 spot in a three-set battle. After winning the first set 6-4, Talcott dropped the second set 6-3 before coming back with a powerful 7-5 third-set conquest. Freshman Sebastian Quiros closed out the contest with another third set tiebreaker at the No. 5 spot. Quiros won the first set 6-3 before dropping the second set 6-3 to Lanthiez; despite the lengthy gameplay, Quiros was able to finish strong and steal the final set 7-5. This concluded the matchup, the Tribe walking away without a single loss.
“We have four freshmen on the team,” Cargill said. “[We’re] really kind of showing them the ropes, how to do things around here, whether it be on the court as well as off the court. It’s helping me grow as a person as well.”
Sunday, the College looked to continue its victory streak as it took on Troy (9-9). After securing the doubles point for the second match in a row, the Tribe shut out the Trojans 4-0.
For the second time this weekend, the Tribe dominated in doubles play and secured the point to give it an early 1-0 lead over the Trojans. Chen and Volk finished first at the No. 3 spot with a 6-2 victory over Pelayo Antuna and Jiaqi Duan. Bautil and Miller also came out on top at the top spot with a 6-2 win against pair Mustapha Belcora and Oskar Michalek. Cargill and Newman’s battle at the No. 2 spot went unfinished.
“We tried to switch up the [doubles] pairs a little bit, and then in practice we kind of focus on the basics in terms of making serves, making returns, and that definitely paid off in the match,” Cargill said.
Yet again, the Tribe dominated in singles play, resulting in three-straight wins to secure the 4-0 shutout victory. Quiros kicked things off with a flawless 6-0, 6-0 victory over Belcora at the No. 5 spot, improving to 4-1 in the position. Talcott followed at the No. 4 spot, defeating Duan 6-4, 6-4. Cargill’s strong finish (7-5, 6-0) at the No. 2 spot over Antuna ended the matchup and solidified the College’s 4-0 finish.
“It was a great victory for the Tribe,” Newman said. “Everyone did really well in singles and doubles. We were able to win really, really quickly and just put the match to bed.”
The Tribe will hit the road again to take on Cornell on March 24 and East Carolina on March 31. The College is 8-1 at home and 1-4 on the road.