WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - After both its matches were postponed last week, the William & Mary men's tennis team finally opens the home portion of its schedule with a Sunday doubleheader. The Tribe welcomes Big South favorite Coastal Carolina to the McCormack-Nagelsen Tennis Center at 10 a.m., before hosting Howard at 4 p.m. FREE pizza and soda will be available to fans during the doubleheader.
 
Scouting William & Mary
W&M opened the 2016 dual-match season, its first under head coach and Tribe alum Jeff Kader, with a trio of road matches against Ivy League competition, Jan. 15-18. Last week, the Tribe's season-opening weekend against Navy and South Carolina State was postponed due to inclement weather. The Green and Gold won its season opener for the ninth straight year, upending Yale, 4-3, on Jan. 15. The win avenged a 4-2 setback to the Bulldogs in Williamsburg during the 2015 season. The Tribe suffered a close 4-3 setback at No. 32 Harvard on Jan. 16, before closing out the trip with a 5-2 loss at Brown. In the win over Yale, W&M took the doubles point as the No. 1 pair of sophomore Ryan Newman and freshman Tristan Bautil clinched the initial point of the match. In singles, junior Addison Appleby and sophomores Alec Miller and Lars de Boer posted wins at No. 3, No. 4 and No. 5 to secure the team triumph. At Harvard, sophomore Christian Cargill upset No. 71-ranked Nicky Hu in straight sets for the third nationally-ranked win of his career. de Boer and junior Aidan Talcott both posted three-set wins against the Crimson. In the trip finale at Brown, Miller and Talcott collected the Tribe points with singles wins at No. 4 and No. 6. For their efforts in doubles, Appleby and de Boer were named the CAA Doubles Team of the Week in the inaugural awards of 2016 announced on Wednesday. The pair went 2-1 during the Ivy League swing at the No. 2 post.
 
Scouting Coastal Carolina
Last season, Coastal Carolina won the Big South Regular Season Championship, going 6-1 in league play. The Chanticleers, who were 12-6 in 2015, were the preseason Big South favorite for the third straight season by vote of the league's head coaches. Coastal opens the season at Richmond on Saturday, before heading to W&M on Sunday. The Chants were the top seed in the Big South Tournament a season ago, before suffering a loss in the semifinals to Campbell. This season, Coastal returns five players from last season's regular season title team, while adding freshman Luiz Faria from Brazil and three transfers: senior Nic Planchard (Tusculum University), junior Sebastian Schneider (Utah State) and redshirt sophomore Francesco Migliano (UT Arlington).
 
Series History: W&M vs. Coastal Carolina
Sunday will be the first meeting between the Tribe and Chanticleers.
 
Scouting Howard
Howard enters the weekend at 0-4 on the year and will travel to Navy on Saturday before meeting the Tribe on Sunday. The Bison were picked fourth in the Northern Division of the MEAC by vote of the league coaches. Last season, HU finished the season at 3-13. They opened 2016 with a 7-0 setback at home to St. Francis (Pa.) on Jan. 15. At the at VCU 4x1 Invitational, the Bison suffered losses to Richmond (4-1), VCU (5-0) and Belmont (5-0). Junior Ismael Kaouache is Howard's top singles player, going 7-7 last season at the top spot. He claimed HU's lone victory at No. 1 in the 4-1 setback to Richmond. In doubles, Myron Davis and Laguna Foster, Jr.,  won at No. 2 doubles vs. St. Francis.
 
Series History: W&M vs. Howard
W&M leads the all-time series with Howard at 9-0 with all nine wins coming in Williamsburg. Sunday will mark the third straight season in which the Tribe and Bison have met. W&M has won seven of the nine match-ups by 7-0 scores, including each of the last five meetings.