WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - The William & Mary women's tennis team returns to the McCormack-Naglesen Tennis Center to face a pair of Big 12 foes this weekend. W&M welcomes West Virginia to Williamsburg on Saturday, Feb. 4, at 1 p.m., before hosting Kansas for the first time since 1999 on Sunday, Feb. 5, at 11 a.m. There will be FREE pizza available at both matches prior to the start of singles play.
 
Scouting the Tribe
The Green and Gold sit at 2-2 entering the weekend after dropping a pair of matches at the ITA Kick-Off Weekend in Durham. After opening the season with home wins over Richmond and Elon, W&M dropped decisions to No. 10 Duke, 4-0, and Tulsa, 4-1. Sophomore Lauren Goodman and junior Olivia Thaler both claimed opening sets from nationally-ranked counterparts in the Duke match, while junior Maria Groener also won the first set at the No. 6 singles position. Unfortunately all three matches were abandoned when the Blue Devils clinched the match. Against Tulsa, who was ranked just outside the national top 25, Goodman picked up the lone Tribe point, downing Mahitha Dadireddy in straight-sets, 6-4, 6-3. Coupled with her season-opening wins against Richmond and Elon, Goodman has won three-straight singles contests and for her efforts, was named the CAA Player of the Week on Wednesday. It marks the second time in her career that she earned the league's weekly singles honor. Goodman is 3-0 in dual-match play and 6-5 overall. Thaler and junior Ekaterina Stepanova, who has spent time at No. 1 and No. 2 singles this season, are both 2-1 in dual-match competition. Senior Marie Faure leads W&M in singles wins with a 12-6 mark. In doubles, Faure and Goodman are 2-2 at the top post. In the ITA Atlantic Region singles rankings released in January, Faure was ranked No. 3, while Stepanova came in at No. 10. The Tribe faces two Big 12 foes this weekend. During head coach Tyler Thomson's tenure at W&M, the Tribe has made it has habit of knocking off Power Five Conference programs.  The Green and Gold owns 15 wins over Power Five Conference opponents in Thomson's four seasons.
 
Scouting West Virginia
West Virginia enters the weekend at 1-3 on the year following a home split last weekend with Akron and Maryland. WVU travels to VCU on Friday, before facing the Tribe on Saturday. The Mountaineers dropped their first two matches of the year on the road at Pitt, 6-1, and Penn State, 4-3. In the victory over Akron on Jan. 28, WVU received singles wins from Habiba Shaker (No. 1), Paula Goetz (No. 3), Christian Jordan (No. 4) and Lyn Yuen Choo (No. 5) to pick up the come-from-behind win. The Mountaineers dropped a 4-2 decision in its most recent match with Maryland. Shaker and Kaja Mrgole won matches at No. 1 and No. 2 for West Virginia's points. Shaker leads the way for WVU at 3-1 in singles competition at the top spot, while Jordan and Mrgole are both 2-2. Mrgole and Jordan comprise WVU's top doubles team and have won two of their last three matches at the No. 1 spot.
 
Series History: W&M vs. West Virginia
The Tribe leads the all-time series with WVU at 4-0 with all four victories coming in Williamsburg. W&M has won the previous meetings by a combined score of 29-1. In the most recent tilt between the teams, the Tribe bounced the Mountaineers, 6-1, in 2013.
 
Scouting Kansas
Kansas enters the weekend at 2-1 on the year after splitting its matches at the ITA Kick-Off Weekend in Nashville last week. The Jayhawks knocked off Clemson, 4-1, in the opening round, before falling to No. 9 Vanderbilt, 4-0. KU opened the season with a 6-1 home win over St. Louis. The Jayhawks finished last season ranked No. 33 nationally after finishing 2016 at 17-8 overall. Kansas travels to N.C. State on Friday, before meeting the Tribe on Sunday. Anastasia Rychagova is the Jayhawks top player and is currently ranked No. 65 nationally. She is 16-4 overall, 2-0 at the top singles post and owns a 5-1 ledger against nationally-ranked competition this season. Maria Toran Ribes and Tess Bernard-Feigenbaum are just behind Rychagova in terms of singles wins with 14 and 13, respectively. The Jayhawks top doubles team is Nina Khmelnitckaia and Bernard-Feigenbaum. The duo is 6-0 during the spring season, including its last two wins over nationally-ranked competition. Bernard-Feigenbaum owns the top doubles mark for KU at 15-5 on the year.
 
Series History: W&M vs. Kansas
W&M and Kansas meet for the first time in 18 years on Sunday. The Tribe won four of the six all-time meetings between the teams. The programs played the series over six-straight seasons from 1994-99. The Jayhawks were ranked among the national top 30 in each of the six meetings. The Tribe won all three matches between the programs in Williamsburg, including a 6-3 triumph over No. 17-ranked Kansas in the most recent meeting in 1999.