WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – The William & Mary women's tennis team kicks off the 2017 campaign with a pair of home matches at the McCormack-Nagelsen Tennis Center this weekend. The Tribe hosts in-state foe Richmond on Saturday, Jan. 21, before welcoming CAA counterpart Elon on Sunday, Jan. 22. Both matches carry a 1 p.m. star time.
 
Scouting the Tribe
W&M returns six players, including four line-up mainstays, from last season's CAA Championship winning squad. Marie Faure is the lone senior on the Green and Gold roster. During the fall season, she won the program's first ITA Atlantic Region Singles Championship since 2008 and topped the team with a 10-4 singles mark. Faure was one of only two players in the CAA to earn first team all-league honors in both singles and doubles last season. Along with Faure, W&M's returns a trio of players who have garnered All-CAA honors during their careers in juniors Olivia Thaler and Maria Groener and sophomore Lauren Goodman. Thaler was a first team all-league pick in 2015, while Groener has been a second-team doubles choice the last two seasons. Goodman was the CAA Rookie of the Year in 2016 and garnered second-team distinction in both singles and doubles. Adding to the returning mix, the Tribe welcomes in a top-100 ranked transfer and a recruiting class that was ranked in the top 25 nationally by the Tennis Recruiting Network. Junior Ekaterina Stepanova joined the Tribe in the fall from Wisconsin where she finished last season ranked No. 98 nationally in singles with a 21-6 record. Freshman Rosie Cheng, Charlotte Madson and Natalia Perry all enjoyed success during their first fall seasons. W&M is 3-1 in openers under head coach Tyler Thomson and will host Richmond for the second time to open a year during his tenure. Last season, W&M won its third CAA Championship in the last four seasons and 24th overall. The Green and Gold capped the year with its highest national rankings (No. 39) since 2007 and its most victories (18) since 2008. W&M has been ranked inside the national top 30 in three of the last four years.
 
Scouting Richmond
Richmond opens the season with the Tribe on Sunday after going 13-10 last year. The Spiders were 3-4 in Atlantic 10 play and advanced to the quarterfinals of the league tournament before falling to St. Louis, 4-1. UR went 1-1 against the CAA last year with a 4-3 win over UNCW and a 4-1 loss to James Madison. The Spiders opened the fall season, going 14-6 overall at the Elon Invitational with two singles players and two doubles teams going undefeated at the event. At the Wake Forest Invitational, Kiana Marshall (Flight B) and Dessislava Zlateva (Flight C) both won their singles flights to lead UR.
 
Series History: W&M vs. Richmond
After not playing in 2016, the Tribe and Spiders will rekindle a series dominated by the Green and Gold. W&M owns 42-straight victories over Richmond and a 43-1 advantage all-time. The Tribe is a perfect 26-0 against UR in Williamsburg. The last meeting in the series came in 2015 at the McCormack-Nagelsen Tennis Center with the Tribe picking up a 6-1 triumph. The only UR victory in the all-time series came during the 1979-80 season.
 
Scouting Elon
Elon opened the year with a doubleheader sweep of North Carolina A&T and Radford on Monday. The Phoenix face South Carolina State at home on Friday, before traveling to Williamsburg on Sunday. Elon returns a trio of All-CAA players in juniors Erica Braschi, Olivia Lucas and Kirsten Ward. Braschi and Lucas garnered first team all-league honors last season. The Phoenix went 14-10 in 2016 and was the No. 2 seed in the CAA Tournament before falling to JMU in the semifinals. Brachi and Suzanne Zenoni held down the No. 1 singles position during the doubleheader sweep with each picking up a win. Freshman Alex Koniaev possesses the Phoenix's top singles record at 7-2 on the year.
 
Series History: W&M vs. Elon
The Tribe claimed the first meeting between the CAA teams last season in Elon, 6-1, on Jan. 29. Lauren Goodman (No. 1), Marie Faure (No. 2), Maria Groener (No. 3) and Cecily Wuenscher (No. 6) each tallied singles and doubles victories in the Green and Gold's win over the Phoenix.