WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – For the second time on the weekend, the William & Mary men's tennis team turned in a strong singles effort in downing BIG EAST foe DePaul, 5-2, on Sunday afternoon at the McCormack-Nagelsen Tennis Center. The Green and Gold won five of six singles matches in posting its 17th-straight home victory. The Tribe improved to 6-5 with its second win of the weekend, while DePaul fell to 6-2.
 
After the Blue Demons took the doubles points, the Tribe won the first five singles matches off the court, including the first four in straight-sets. Junior Alec Miller started the singles onslaught with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Christopher Casati at the fourth singles spot. He won his second-straight match, improving to 8-6 overall and 6-5 in dual-match play.
 
Senior Addison Appleby and Damon Niquet extended the Tribe to 3-1 with straight-set wins at No. 3 and No. 5 singles, respectively. Appleby tallied a 6-3, 6-4 triumph at the post over Boris Spanjaard to give W&M the lead for good. He won for the fourth time in dual-match competition and fifth overall. Niquet notched his fifth-straight victory, upending Fran Tonejc, 6-4, 6-3, for his team-leading 11th win. He tops the Green and Gold at 8-2 in duals.
 
Senior Aidan Talcott clinched the W&M win with the victory at the top spot. He blanked DePaul's Nathan de Veer, 6-0, in the opening set, before winning the final three games of the second in pulling out a 6-4 triumph. Talcott won his third match in a row, upping his ledger to 10-7 overall and 6-4 at the top post.
 
Junior Christian Cargill rounded out the Tribe victory with a come-from-behind three-set triumph at No. 2. The Blue Demons' Tim Crowin jumped out to a set led, taking the first, 6-2. Cargill bounced back to claim the second, 6-3, before rolling to a 6-2 win in the third. He won for the third time in his last four matches, second on the weekend and eighth overall on the season.
 
DePaul took the doubles point to open the match with a tiebreaker win at the second spot. W&M jumped out to the early lead with a win at the top spot. Tied a three-all, the Tribe tandem of Talcott and junior Ryan Newman broke the Blue Demon pair of Corwin and Spanjaard and won the final three games to pull out the 6-3 win. Talcott and Newman won for the fifth time at the top spot and posted its team-best 11th win overall.
 
After the Blue Demons pulled even with a win at No. 3, the match came down to a back-and-froth affair between W&M's Appleby and sophomore Tristan Bautil and DePaul's de Veer and Tamas Zador. Trailing 4-3, the Tribe pairing broke to pull even and teams held serve on the way to a tiebreaker. It appeared the Tribe would close out the point, leading 6-5 in the breaker, but DePaul made a nice return to pull even. The Blue Demons eventually cashed in their fifth match point, pulling out a 12-10 win.
 
The Tribe wraps up its three-match homestand with its second-straight Big East foe in St. John's on Tuesday, Feb. 28. The match carries a 4 p.m. start time.
 
William & Mary 5, DePaul 2
Singles
No. 1 – Aidan Talcott (W&M) def. Nathan de Veer (DePaul) – 6-0, 6-4
No. 2 – Christian Cargill (W&M) def. Tim Corwin (DePaul) – 2-6, 6-3, 6-2
No. 3 – Addison Appleby (W&M) def. Boris Spanjaard (DePaul) – 6-3, 6-4
No. 4 – Alec Miller (W&M) def. Christopher Casati (DePaul) – 6-3, 6-4
No. 5 – Damon Niquet (W&M) def. Fran Tonejc (DePaul) – 6-4, 6-3
No. 6 – Tamas Zador (DePaul) def. Lars de Boer (W&M) – 6-1, 6-7, 10-4
Finishing Order: 4, 3, 5, 1*, 2, 6
 
Doubles
No. 1 – Talcott/Newman (W&M) def. Corwin/Spanjaard (DePaul) – 6-3
No. 2 – de Veer/Zador (DePaul) def. Bautil/Appleby (W&M) – 7-6 (10)
No. 3 – Tonejc/Casati (DePaul) def. Cargill/Miller (W&M) – 6-2
Finishing Order: 1, 3, 2*