WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - With the dawn of the 2017 dual-match season, the William & Mary men's tennis team rise to the top of the Colonial Athletic Association and into the national picture gains clarity thanks to a strong nucleus of returning veterans. The group has enjoyed a significant amount of success in the Green and Gold, highlighted by milestone events the last two seasons. W&M won the program's fourth Colonial Athletic Association Championship in 2015, before achieving its highest national ranking since 2010 a season ago.
 
Under second-year head coach Jeff Kader, the Tribe's roster features seven upperclassmen, including five that have been impact players in each of the last two campaigns. Headlining the group is a trio of seniors in Addison Appleby, Damon Niquet and Aidan Talcott. Both Appleby and Niquet have been fixtures in the lineup throughout their Green and Gold careers, while Talcott started his senior campaign off in impressive fashion, earning a national top-100 singles rankings thanks to his fall performance. Juniors Lars de Boer, Christian Cargill and Alec Miller have been valuable pieces to the Tribe's winning equation over the last two years, playing important roles in both singles and doubles.
 
Last season, the Tribe compiled a 15-9 ledger in Kader's first year at the helm of his alma mater. The Green and Gold won nine of 10 matches between January and March on the way to earning the program's first national ranking since 2011. W&M checked into the ITA National Rankings for the better part of a month in March and April. The Tribe achieved a season-high ranking of No. 60, which was the program's highest since 2010. As part of its impressive campaign, W&M upset No. 44-ranked Drake, 4-2, during the Rice Invitational in March. It was the program's highest-ranked win since downing No. 34 Notre Dame in 2008.
 
The Tribe will once again face a daunting slate in 2017, starting with seven of its first eight matches on the road. W&M opens the year with a northeast swing to Yale (Jan. 20), Brown (Jan. 21) and Boston College (Jan. 22) this weekend and will also face nationally-ranked Notre Dame during its beginning stretch. W&M's first home match of 2017 comes on Sunday, Jan. 29, against Navy at 11 a.m. Prior to the CAA Championship, April 21-23, in Elon, N.C., the Green and Gold wraps up the regular season with six-straight home matches, including tilts with VCU (April 12) and Old Dominion (April 16).  
 
Here is a look at the Tribe's 2017 roster …
 

• 21 of his 29 career dual-match singles wins have come at the top three positions in the lineup, including a 10-7 mark at the No. 2 post
• Picked up his 40th career singles win during the fall of 2016 and is an impressive 51-40 (.560) in doubles action, including 26 wins in 2014-15, which rank as the 12th-best single-season total in W&M history
• A three-time CAA Doubles Team of the Week selection
 


• Notched four singles wins during the fall, including an opening round win at the ITA Atlantic Region Singles Championship
• Became a fixture in the Tribe's doubles lineup during the end of the dual-match season and into the Championship season, playing alongside Ryan Newman at No. 2
• Prior to W&M, was ranked as high as No. 525 in the Combined ITF Junior Rankings and No. 3 in Central America and Caribbean in 14 and under
 


• Earned First Team All-CAA honors in each of his first two seasons, making him the eighth player in program history with multiple All-CAA First Team honors in singles and the first to do it in her first two seasons
• Currently W&M's all-time leader in doubles winning percentage at 71.3 with a record of 57-23, including a 7-2 mark during the fall playing alongside Damon Niquet
• The CAA Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 2016, he clinched the Tribe's highest nationally-ranked win since 2008 with a win at the top position against No. 44 Drake at the Rice Invitational last season
 


• A fixture in the Tribe lineup over his first two seasons with 34 wins, including a 25-13 dual-match mark
• Made an impact in each of the last two CAA Championship, clinching the Tribe's quarterfinal win over Drexel last season with a singles win and in 2015, clinched the doubles point, along with Addison Appleby, in the semifinal win over Elon to go with a singles win against the Phoenix as well.
• Excels in the classroom as well, earning the W&M Provost Award each of his first two years and being named an ITA Scholar-Athlete in 2015
 


• A Second Team All-CAA selection in singles after tying for the team lead with 19 singles wins last season
• Led W&M in singles wins as a freshman in 2014-15 with 18, including a team-best 15-9 dual-match mark
• Won a trio of singles matches, including clinching the semifinal win over Elon, in helping the Tribe to the CAA title in 2015
 


• Advanced to the round of 32 at the ITA Atlantic Region Singles Championship, including a win over the No. 6 seed
• Teamed with Aidan Talcott to win five of their last six matches, earning the top doubles award at the I-64 Challenge along with a win over the No. 23-ranked team in the country from ODU
• Joined W&M in the spring of 2016 as a transfer from N.C. State and made an impact in the doubles lineup, including four wins at the top position
 


• Ranks among the Tribes all-time top 10 in both singles winning percentage (10th at 63 percent) and doubles (tied for fourth at 67.9 percent)
• During his career, has played his best tennis during the dual-match season, compiling a remarkable 31-12 (.721) singles record and a 35-11 (.761) doubles ledger
• Won a career-best 14-straight matches between January and April, including clinching victories over Valparaiso, Binghamton and Coastal Carolina
 


• Compiled a 5-2 singles mark during the fall, including a 3-0 ledger at the Penn Invitational
• Joined the Tribe as a walk-on during the fall of 2015 and competed in his first collegiate event at the N.C. Invitational
• Ranked No. 5 in the state of Virginia according to the Tennis Recruiting Network coming out of West Potomac, where he was the two-time Patriot District Player of the Year
 


• Ranked No. 72 in the ITA National Singles Rankings on Jan. 4, the highest ranking for the Tribe player since 2012, after upsetting a top-50 opponent from Columbia during the fall campaign
• Led W&M in singles wins last season with 19, including a team-best 15-4 dual-match mark highlighted by 12-straight wins between January and March
• Transferred to W&M in 2015 after earning All-Summit League honors at Denver in 2014