NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The William & Mary men's tennis team kicked off the 2016 dual-match campaign with a 4-3 win over Ivy League counterpart Yale on Friday afternoon. The Green and Gold, playing its first match under the direction of first-year head coach and W&M alum Jeff Kader, won the top two doubles positions to claim the initial point of the match and posted straight-set wins at No. 3, No. 4 and No. 5 to clinch the team victory. The Tribe, which won its season-opener for the ninth straight season, avenged a 4-2 loss to the Bulldogs last season and evened the all-time series at 2-2.
 
Junior Addison Appleby and sophomore Lars de Boer gave W&M the early lead in doubles thanks to a 6-2 victory over Photos Photiades and Charlie Adams at No. 2. The Green and Gold pair improved to 6-3 over the last two seasons in dual-match competition with five victories coming at the No. 2 post.
 
After a Yale win at No. 3, the duo of freshmen Tristan Bautil and sophomore Ryan Newman clinched the initial point of the match with a tiebreaker win at the top post. The duo upended the Bulldog pair of Alex Hagermoser and Nathan Brown, 7-6 (4).
 
Appleby, sophomore Alec Miller and de Boer posted wins at the No. 3, No. 4 and No. 5 singles positions, respectively, to give W&M the season-opening victory. Appleby won his 30th career match, downing Dennis Wang, 6-3, 6-2. The Tribe junior improved to 3-2 on the year.
 
Miller posted his team-leading seven singles win with a 6-3, 7-5 triumph over Yale's Nathan Brown at No. 4. He improved to 3-0 at No. 4 over his Tribe career and posted his 25th career triumph. At No. 5, de Boer dropped just three games in topping Photos Photiades, 6-2, 6-1. He improved to 5-5 on the year and 5-2 at the No. 5 post over the last two seasons.
 
All three Yale singles victories came in three sets. At the top spot, sophomore Christian Cargill dropped a narrow third-set super tiebreaker, 15-13, to No. 118-ranked Ziqi Wang after the counterparts split the first two sets, 4-6, 6-3.
 
Newman and junior Damon Niquet also dropped close three-set matches at No. 2 and No. 6, respectively. Yale's Alex Hagermoser won the opening set from Newman, 6-4, before the Tribe sophomore took the second set in a tiebreaker, 7-6 (5).  Hagermoser outlasted Newman in the third set super tiebreaker, 10-8. Niquet and Yale's Jason Brown nearly followed the same script. The Tribe junior won the opening set, 6-4, while Brown took the second in a tiebreaker, 7-6 (4). Brown claimed the match with a 10-6 win in the third set.
 
The Tribe continues its season-opening three-game road swing against Ivy League foes at No. 32 Harvard on Saturday, Jan. 16, at 1 p.m. The Green and Gold closes out the trip at Brown on Monday, Jan. 18. The Tribe-Bears match-up carries a 10 a.m. start time.
 
William & Mary 4, Yale 3
Singles
No. 1 – #118 Ziqi Wang (Yale) def. Christian Cargill (W&M) – 6-4, 3-6, 15-13
No. 2 – Alex Hagermoser (Yale) def. Ryan Newman (W&M) – 6-4, 6-7 (5), 10-8
No. 3 – Addison Appleby (W&M) def. Dennis Wang (Yale) – 6-3, 6-2
No. 4 – Alec Miller (W&M) def. Nathan Brown (Yale) – 6-3, 7-5
No. 5 – Lars de Boer (W&M) def. Photos Photiades (Yale) – 6-2, 6-1
No. 6 – Jason Brown (Yale) def. Damon Niquet (W&M) – 4-6, 7-6 (4), 10-6
 
Doubles
No. 1 – Bautil/Newman (W&M) def. Hagermoser/N. Brown (Yale) – 7-6 (4)
No. 2 – Appleby/de Boer (W&M) def. Photiades/Adams (Yale) – 6-2
No. 3 – J. Brown/Wang (Yale) def. Cargill/Miller (W&M) – 6-3