WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - For the second match of the weekend, the No. 37 William & Mary women's tennis team used strong singles to surge past No. 54 Rice, 5-2, on Saturday afternoon at the Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center. After dropping the doubles point, the Tribe (13-5) won five of six singles matches to record head coach Tyler Thomson's 50th victory at the College. Senior Elizaveta Nemchinov and junior Marie Faure led the way for the Green and Gold, picking up a nationally-ranked singles wins.
 
Rice (7-7) opened the match by taking the doubles point with wins at No. 2 and No. 3, before sophomore Maria Groener won for the sixth-straight match at No. 6 to even the tilt at one. Groener rolled to a 6-3, 6-2 win over Fernanda Astete to improve to 14-11 on the year.
 
Following a Rice win at the fourth singles spot, freshman Lauren Goodman and sophomore Olivia Thaler pushed W&M in front for good with matching 6-3, 6-4 victories at No. 3 and No. 5, respectively. Goodman won her fourth straight, upending Alison Ho, who was an All-Conference USA pick the last two seasons, to push her mark to 14-6. Thaler won her third straight and evened her overall ledger at 11-11 with a triumph over Solomiya Zinko.
 
For the second-straight day, Nemchinov clinched the Tribe victory with a three-set win at No. 1. The Tribe senior won the opening set, 6-1, before Rice's Lindsey Hodge, who is ranked No. 103 nationally, rallied to take the second set, 7-5. Nemchinov tallied her fourth nationally-ranked win of the season with a dominating 6-1 victory in the third set. It marked her 10th win at the top singles spot as she upped her season record to 16-7.
 
Faure rounded out the Tribe win with a straight-set victory over a top-50 opponent at No. 2. The Tribe junior won a pair tiebreaker sets, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5), to down No. 50-ranked Katherine Ip, who was a All-Conference USA First Team selection last season. Faure won her third-straight match and second over a nationally-ranked counterpart this season, improving to 13-5 overall.
 
The Tribe returns home for the final time with two matches next weekend at the Millie West Tennis Facility. The Green and Gold welcomes Houston to Williamsburg on Friday, April 1, for a 2 p.m., match. W&M wraps up its home schedule with Montana on Saturday, April 2. The contest is slated for a 3 p.m. start time and will be the final home match in the careers of Tribe seniors Julia Casselbury, Jackie Lee and Elizaveta Nemchinov.
 
#37 William & Mary 5, #54 Rice 2
Singles
No. 1 – Elizaveta Nemchinov (W&M) def. #103 Lindsey Hodge (Rice) – 6-1, 5-7, 6-1
No. 2 – Marie Faure (W&M) def. #50 Katherine Ip (Rice) – 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5)
No. 3 – Lauren Goodman (W&M) def. Alison Ho (Rice) – 6-3, 6-4
No. 4 – Savannah Durkin (Rice) def. Julia Casslebury (W&M) – 6-0, 6-3
No. 5 – Olivia Thaler (W&M) def. Solomiya Zinko (Rice) – 6-3, 6-4
No. 6 – Maria Groener (W&M) def. Fernanda Astete (Rice) – 6-3, 6-2
Finishing Order: 6, 4, 5, 3, 1*, 2
 
Doubles
No. 1 – Faure/Nemchinov (W&M) vs. Hodge/Ho (Rice) – DNF, 5-2
No. 2 – Ip/Smith (Rice) def. Goodman/Groener (W&M) – 6-0
No. 3 – Durkin/Zinko (Rice) def. Casselbury/Wuenscher (W&M) – 6-1
Finishing Order: 3, 2*