NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The William & Mary men's tennis team opened the 2017 campaign with a 5-2 setback at Yale on Friday afternoon. Senior Damon Niquet and junior Alec Miller posted singles wins for the Green and Gold.
 
Yale jumped on top by taking the doubles point with victories at the No. 1 and No. 3 spots. The Bulldogs' top double team of Stefan Doehler and Alex Hagermoser upended senior Aidan Talcott and junior Ryan Newman, 6-2, before the Yale duo of Ryan Cheng and Dylan King topped Niquet and junior Christian Cargill, 6-3, at No. 3.
 
In singles action, Niquet answered with a straight-sets triumph at No. 6. The Tribe senior downed Yale's Andrew Heller, 6-3, 6-3, for his fourth win of the year. It was Niquet's 59th career singles win as he improved to an impressive 32-12 over his career in dual-match play.
 
At No. 4, Miller provided W&M with its second point of the match. He rallied to take the opening set from Doehler, 6-4, before claiming the second, 6-3. Miller, who improved to 3-1 on the year, recorded his 40th career singles win in the process.
 
While the Bulldogs won in straight sets at No. 2 and No. 5, senior Addison Appleby took the opening set from King, 6-3, at the No. 3 spot. The Yale rookie rallied through by winning 12 of the next 14 games in claiming the three-set triumph. At the top singles position, Talcott dropped the opening set to Tyler Lu, who was ranked No. 94 nationally during the fall, 6-3. The Tribe senior, who entered the spring ranked No. 72 in the country, forced a tiebreaker in the second set, but Lu edged Talcott, 7-6 (5), in the breaker.
 
W&M continues its season-opening three-match swing to the Northeast at Brown on Saturday, Jan. 21, at 1 p.m. The Green and Gold wraps up the trip at Boston College on Sunday, Jan. 22, at 10 a.m.
 
Yale 5, William & Mary 2
Singles
No. 1 - Tyler Lu (Yale) def. #72 Aidan Talcott (W&M) – 6-3, 7-6 (5)
No. 2 - Ziqi Wang (Yale) def. Christian Cargill (W&M) – 6-3, 6-4
No. 3 - Dylan King (Yale) def. Addison Appleby (W&M) – 3-6, 6-1, 6-1
No. 4 - Alec Miller (W&M) def. Stefan Doehler (Yale) – 6-4, 6-3
No. 5 - Ryan Cheng (Yale) def. Lars de Boer (W&M) – 6-3, 6-0
No. 6 - Damon Niquet (W&M) def. Andrew Heller (Yale) – 6-3, 6-3
 
Doubles
No. 1 – Hagermoser/Doehler (Yale) def. Talcott/Newman (W&M) – 6-2
No. 2 – Lu/Wang (Yale) vs. Bautil/Appleby (W&M) – DNF, 4-3
No. 3 – Cheng/King (Yale) def. Cargill/Niquet (W&M) – 6-3