WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – Fresh off a pair of home wins last weekend, the William & Mary women's tennis team travels to Durham, N.C., to take part in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend at Duke, Jan. 28-29. The Green and Gold faces the host and the No. 10-ranked Blue Devils at 2 p.m., on Saturday at the Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center. The other regional match pits No. 25 Northwestern and Tulsa. The winners square off at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 29, with a spot in the ITA National Indoor Championship on the line, while the consolation match is set for a 10 a.m. start. Live stats and video for the event will be available at GoDuke.com.

The Tribe takes part in the ITA Kick-Off weekend for the seventh time in the nine-year history of the event. Twice, W&M won its opening-round match and played for a spot in the ITA National Team Indoor Championship. The Green and Gold knocked of then-No. 16 Texas in Williamsburg in 2009, and a year later, downed Georgia State in the opening round at Georgia. Last season, the Tribe suffered a close 4-1 loss to No. 24 Georgia Tech in Atlanta, before downing No. 35 DePaul, 4-2, in the consolation round.
 
Host sites for Kick-Off Weekend were determined using the final 2015-16 Oracle/ITA Collegiate Tennis Rankings. A draft was held to fill the No.'s 2-4 seeds at all locations, again using the final national team rankings as a guide to determine draft order. The 15 regional site winners earn an invitation to the ITA National Women's Tennis Indoor Championship at Yale, Feb. 10-13. The Tribe has competed in the National Team Indoor Championship on 12 occasions in its history.
 
Scouting the Tribe
The Tribe is 2-0 on the year after opening with wins over Richmond, 6-1, and Elon, 7-0, at home last weekend. W&M swept doubles against the Spiders and won five of six singles matches in straight sets. Senior Marie Faure clinched the win over the Spiders with a victory at the No. 1 position. She split time at the top spot over the weekend with junior Ekaterina Stepanova, who won at No. 1 against Elon. Both players went 2-0 in singles competition to start the dual-match campaign playing at the top two posts. Sophomore Lauren Goodman and junior Olivia Thaler, who clinched the win over Elon, both tallied 2-0 singles marks as well last week. Junior Maria Groener and freshman Natalia Perry split time at No. 6 posting a win apiece. The Tribe's top two doubles teams went 2-0 each during the opening weekend. Faure and Goodman tallied a pair of wins at the No. 1 spot, while freshman Rosie Cheng and Thaler won both their tilts at No. 2. Faure, who leads W&M with a 12-4 singles record, and Stepanova garnered ITA Regional Singles Rankings to begin the spring dual-match season. After winning the regional singles title, Faure was ranked No. 3 in the region, while Stepanova came in at No. 10.
 
 
Scouting #10 Duke
Duke won its dual-match opener, sweeping Elon, 7-0, on Wednesday evening. After finishing last season at No. 15 in the national rankings, the Blue Devils spent the first three weeks of the 2017 campaign ranked No. 10. In 2016, Duke finished the year at 19-7 overall and 11-3 in ACC play, advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament before falling to Texas. Duke's lineup features a trio of nationally-ranked singles players in the poll released on Jan. 4. Meible Chi is the top-ranked Blue Devil at No. 14 followed by Chalena Scholl at No. 34 and Kaitlyn McCarthy at No. 76. Chi leads Duke with a 16-6 singles mark, including three wins over nationally-ranked opponents. Scholl, who was an All-ACC pick last season, is 11-4 on the year in singles. Samantha Harris, who is a two-time All-ACC pick, played No. 1 and picked up the win against Elon. Chi and McCarthy won at No. 1 doubles vs. Elon, while McCarthy and Scholl lead Duke with a 7-4 doubles mark during the fall.
 
Series History: W&M vs. Duke
Duke leads the all-time series with the Tribe at 25-9, including a 13-2 mark in Durham. In each of the last 21 meetings with W&M, the Blue Devils have been ranked in the national top 10. The Tribe posted five wins over the Duke teams ranked in the top five, including back-to-back wins over No. 5-ranked teams in 2005 and 2006. The Blue Devils won the last meeting between the teams in 2015, topping the Tribe, 4-3, in Williamsburg. W&M and Duke have met on three occasions in the NCAA Tournament during the 2003, 2004 and 2008 campaigns.
 
Scouting #25 Northwestern
The No. 25-ranked Wildcats are 3-0 on the year following wins over Chicago State (7-0), Akron (7-0) and Harvard (6-1). Last season, Northwestern was ranked No. 28 nationally and closed out the year at 14-11 overall, including a 10-1 Big Ten mark. The Wildcats advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, before falling to No. 3 North Carolina. After receiving votes of the top 25 the first two weeks of 2017, the Wildcats moved into the national top 25 this week. Northwestern's singles lineup features one nationally-ranked players in No. 104 Maddie Lipp. She won 24 matches, including seven against nationally-ranked foes, on the way to All-Big Ten honors last season. She split time at No. 1 last season with Erin Larner, who is a two-time All-Big Ten honoree. Northwestern's doubles lineup includes three teams in the national top 25. Lipp and Alex Chatt lead the way at No. 6 nationally. The duo advanced to the ITA All-American Championships during the fall after winning 24 matches, including nine against ranked foes, last season. Rheeya Doshi and Jillian Rooney were ranked No. 23 in doubles, while Lee Or and Larner came in at No. 24.
 
Series History: W&M vs. Northwestern
The Wildcats lead the all-time series at 6-2. The teams played eight times over a nine-year span from 2002-10. W&M won the first two meetings in 2002 and 2003, knocking off Northwestern teams ranked No. 9 and No. 15, respectively. The Wildcats have won the last six meetings between the programs, including a 7-0 triumph during the 2010 season when they were ranked No. 2 nationally. Northwestern was ranked among the top 15 in each of the nine all-time meetings.
 
Scouting Tulsa
The Golden Hurricane enter the ITA Kickoff weekend at 4-0 following wins over Oral Roberts and Arkansas Pine Bluff as part of four matches in one day on Jan. 14. Tulsa finished the 2016 campaign at 22-5 on the year, advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament before falling to eventual national runner-up Oklahoma State. They capped last season at No. 26 in the country. The Golden Hurricane received votes in the latest ITA National Top 25 released on Jan. 25. Ksenia Laskutova and Mahitha Dadireddy went a perfect 3-0 in singles action at the No. 1 and No. 2 positions, respectively, in the matches with Oral Roberts and Arkansas Pine Bluff.  
 
Series History: W&M vs. Tulsa
A Tribe-Golden Hurricane meeting at the ITA Kickoff Weekend would be the first between the two programs.