GREENSBORO, N.C. – The No. 4 seed William & Mary men's tennis team began defense of its Colonial Athletic Association Championship, rolling to a 4-0 victory over No. 5 Drexel in the league quarterfinals on Friday afternoon at the Piedmont Tennis Center. The match was originally slated to be played outdoors at the Burlington Tennis Center, but due to inclement weather was delayed an hour and forced indoors. The Green and Gold (15-8) won the top four singles matches to claim its 15th victory of the season, while Drexel (13-8) ended the year with a school-record win total.
 
With the matches moving indoors, the quarterfinals started with singles and sophomore Alec Miller wasted little time putting the Tribe on top. The Second Team All-CAA player picked up his team-leading 19th victory, dispatching of Sinan Orhon, 6-2, 6-2, at No. 3. Orhon entered the match as Drexel's leader in singles wins with 20. Miller, who improved to 7-2 at the No. 3 spot with his third straight win, is 4-0 in singles during his two CAA Championship appearances.
 
Sophomore Christian Cargill and junior Addison Appleby extended the margin to 3-0 with straight-set wins at the top two positions. Appleby downed Andrew Sinai, 6-3, 6-4, at No. 2 for his 10th dual-match win of the season. Appleby won his third straight to improve to 12-11 overall. Cargill, a two-time All-CAA First Team honoree, notched his 13th victory, upending Xabier Saavedra, 6-1, 6-4, at the No. 1 spot. It marked the Tribe sophomore's 10th win at No. 1 this season and his 30th career singles triumph.
 
At No. 4, sophomore Lars de Boer clinched the Tribe's passage to the semifinals with a three-set victory over Drexel's Hamza Laalej. de Boer and Laalej split the opening two sets by matching 6-3 scores. In the decisive third, the Tribe sophomore jumped out to a 3-0 lead on the way to a 6-2 win. He won his eighth match at No. 4 and improved to 16-12 overall.
 
The Tribe advances to the CAA Semifinals where it meets top seed and No. 67-ranked UNCW (11-8). The match is slated for 10 a.m. at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Facility. UNCW defeated Hofstra, 4-0, in its quarterfinal on Friday. Combined the Tribe and Seahawks have won the last three CAA Championships, and Saturday will be the first meeting between the teams since UNCW downed W&M in the 2013 CAA Championship match.
 
#4 William & Mary 4, #5 Drexel 0
Singles
No. 1 – Christian Cargill (W&M) def. Xabier Saavedra (Drexel) – 6-1, 6-4
No. 2 – Addison Appleby (W&M) def. Andrew Sinai (Drexel) – 6-3, 6-4
No. 3 – Alec Miller (W&M) def. Sinan Orhon (Drexel) – 6-2, 6-2
No. 4 – Lars de Boer (W&M) def. Hamza Laalej (Drexel) – 6-3, 3-6, 6-2
No. 5 – Aidan Talcott (W&M) vs. Balaji Lakshmanan (Drexel) – DNF, 6-6
No. 6 – Damon Niquet (W&M) vs. Kashyap Ashok (Drexel) – DNF, 6-1, 1-0
Finishing Order: 3, 2, 1, 4*
 
Doubles
No. 1 – Cargill/Huang (W&M) vs. Orhon/Ashok (Drexel) – DNP
No. 2 – Bautil/Newman (W&M) vs. Ginzburg/Laalej (Drexel) – DNP
No. 3 – de Boer/Niquet (W&M) vs. Saavedra/Lakshmanan (Drexel) – DNP