WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - The William & Mary men's tennis team kicks off the 2016 dual-match match season with a trio of road matches against Ivy League competition. The Tribe travels to Yale on Friday, Jan. 15, at 11 a.m., before going to No. 32 Harvard on Saturday, Jan. 16, at 1 p.m. W&M wraps up the trip at Brown on Monday, Jan. 18, at 1 p.m. With the start this weekend, check out the 2016 season preview below and the preview video above. The video can also be viewed by clicking HERE.

Season Preview
A new era of William & Mary men's tennis roars into action in 2016 with a familiar face at the helm to lead a balanced roster coming off the program's fourth Colonial Athletic Association Championship. After 22 years as the Green and Gold head coach, Peter Daub retired his post over the summer, going out on top by winning the 2015 league championship. In his stead, 2005 W&M graduate and Daub pupil, Jeff Kader, takes over the reigns with a group posed to compete for another league title.
 
Kader, who ranks as one of the winningest players in W&M history, is no stranger to success at the collegiate level. He not only led the Tribe to the CAA title in 2005 as a player, but also won conference crowns as the University of Texas-San Antonio head coach over the last five seasons. Kader capped his Roadrunner career, winning the 2015 Conference USA title and being named the league's coach of the year. Joining Kader on the Tribe sidelines is 2009 W&M graduate Dominic Pagon. He returns to his alma mater with a resume that includes time as both the top player and manager of the Jamaican Davis Cup Team. During Pagon's Tribe tenure, W&M earned its highest ITA computer ranking in 2007 and garnered an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
 
The Tribe's new staff will have a plethora of options this season. W&M's roster features a trio of returning upperclassmen in senior Scott Huang and juniors Addison Appleby and Damon Niquet as well as three sophomores (Christian Cargill, Lars de Boer and Alec Miller) who made significant impact as rookies. Along with the six returning players from the Tribe's CAA Championship team, W&M welcomes three freshmen and a pair of transfers to the fold for 2016.
 
The Lineup
Huang is the lone senior on the Green and Gold roster. A three-time ITA Scholar-Athlete selection, he is W&M's active leader with 42 singles victories. Last season, Huang collected a 16-11 singles record, including a 12-8 dual-match mark. He posted four wins during the fall, including a pair in advancing to the third round of the ITA Atlantic Region Singles Championship.
 
Appleby and Niquet have both been factors in the Tribe lineup over their first two seasons in Williamsburg. Last season, Appleby played as high as No. 2 and mainly at No. 3 in the singles lineup. He tallied 15 wins last year, including 11 victories in dual-match competition, and owns 29 over his career.
 
Niquet, who boasts a career singles ledger of 41-26, competed as high as No. 2 in the singles lineup in his sophomore season and saw the most action at No. 4, including in the CAA and NCAA Tournaments. Twice in his career, he was named the CAA Player of the Week. Niquet recorded a 16-10 mark a year ago and finished at 12-7 in dual-match singles action, including a 7-2 ledger at No. 4. In helping W&M to the CAA title, he provided key wins in the semifinals and championship, downing Elon's Brian Kowalski and Charleston's Vasily Kichigan at No. 4 singles. During the fall, Niquet won two matches in prequalifying for the ITA All-American Championships advancing to the third round by downing foes from LSU and Mississippi State.
 
All three Tribe freshmen in 2015 made significant impacts and comprised half the Green and Gold's singles lineup in the CAA Championship and NCAA Tournament. Cargill headlines the group after earning CAA Rookie of the Year and First Team All-CAA honors last season. He was just the third Tribe Rookie named First Team All-CAA in singles. Cargill won 17 singles matches and played at the top singles post for the Green and Gold. In the fall season, he won an opening round match in the prequalifying for the ITA All-American Championships over Nebraska's Chris Schindler.
 
de Boer and Miller shared the Tribe lead in singles wins last season as freshmen with 18 apiece. They both made a big impact in the CAA Tournament as well. Miller won all three of his CAA Tournament matches, while de Boer posted a win in the semifinal triumph over Elon. Miller clinched the team victory over the Phoenix before giving W&M a 2-0 advantage in the championship match with Charleston by winning the first singles match off the court.
 
de Boer compiled a 13-5 ledger in dual-match play, including a 5-1 mark at No. 3 singles. Along with his CAA Semifinal win, he tallied important dual-match wins over Boston College, Florida and Old Dominion. de Boer's 2015 fall was highlighted by an opening-round win over Arkansas' Austin Robles in the prequalifying for the ITA All-American Championships.
 
Along with leading the team with 18 overall singles wins, Miller turned in the top dual-match mark as well at 15-9. He followed that up by leading the Tribe with six fall singles wins, including a first-round victory in the ITA Atlantic Region Singles Championship.
 
W&M added a pair of transfers in Aidan Talcott from Denver and Ryan Newman from N.C. State. Talcott spent the fall season with the Green and Gold, compiling four single singles. Included in his total were two in the ITA Atlantic Region Singles Championship as he advanced to the third round.
 
Talcott, who is originally from Sea Cliff, N.Y., spent his first two seasons at Denver, where he helped the program to a Summit League Championship and a bid to the NCAA Tournament in 2014. He earned All-Summit League honors in 2013-14, going a perfect 5-0 in league. Talcott posted 14 singles wins, including a 9-4 dual-match mark, in 2014.
 
Newman, who is originally from Wilmington, N.C., is a big lefty and joined the Tribe program in January. He recorded a 6-2 mark in singles as a freshman in 2013-14 before redshirted in 2014-15. Newman excelled in the classroom during his time at N.C. State, earning ACC Academic Honor Roll and Caterpillar Scholar Athlete accolades. As a prep, he was a four-star recruit according to the Tennis Recruiting Network, ranking No. 3 in the state of North Carolina and No. 98 nationally.
 
Freshmen Tristan Bautil, Austin Childs and Michael Ruamthong are newcomers for the Green and Gold in 2015-16. Bautil, who won two singles matches during the fall, was ranked as high as No. 525 in the Combined ITF Junior Rankings and No. 3 in Central America and Caribbean. Childs and Ruamthong are in-state freshmen, joining the Green and Gold from Northern Virginia.
 
Doubles
Five of the Tribe's six doubles players from the CAA Championship and NCAA Tournament return in 2016. The W&M pairs' lineup could include a number of different combinations.
 
Last season, Cargill led W&M with 30 doubles wins, which ranked fourth all-time in program history. During the fall, he and Huang teamed to post a Tribe-best 5-2 ledger. Huang owns 38 doubles wins over his career. Cargill wrapped up 2015 competing in doubles with Niquet at the No. 3 spot. The duo went 7-1, including five straight to end the campaign. They won all three matches during the CAA Tournament to help the Tribe to the doubles point in each contest.
 
Niquet compiled a 34-18 doubles mark during his career, including a 13-4 record with Appleby. Last season, Appleby notched the second-best double mark on the team at 26-12, including an 18-7 dual-match ledger. A three-time CAA Doubles Team of the Week pick, Appleby's career doubles mark sits at 41-23.
 
At the end of the 2015 season, Appleby teamed with de Boer to comprise the Tribe's No. 2 team during the CAA Championship and the NCAA Tournament. The duo posted a 5-3 record and clinched the important doubles point in the CAA Semifinals against Elon with an 8-7 (7) win. During his rookie campaign, de Boer won 15 doubles matches.
 
Schedule
The Tribe's 2016 schedule is balanced with seven nationally-ranked opponents on the slate. The Green and Gold opens the season with three straight on the road against Ivy League foes in Yale (Jan. 15), Harvard (Jan. 16) and Brown (Jan. 18). Following the opening swing, the Tribe hosts 12 of its next 13 dual-matches at home.
 
W&M will face No. 32 Harvard, No. 53 Penn State and No. 56 Old Dominion on the road along with hosting Kader's former team in No. 66 UTSA. The Green and Gold will also compete at the Rice Invitational, March 26-27, in Houston, Texas. The event includes a trio of nationally-ranked teams in No. 17 Texas Tech and No. 35 Drake as well as the host No. 58 Rice.
 
W&M travels to Elon on April 3. It will be the Tribe's first look at the site of the 2016 CAA Championships. After the Tribe hosted the league tournament each of the last three seasons, this year's event will be at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center in Elon, April 22-24. The Tribe closes out the regular season with three straight against in-state foes, traveling to VCU and ODU before hosting league counterpart JMU in the regular season finale on April 17.