WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - The William & Mary women's tennis team splits matches on the road and at home this weekend. The No. 49 Tribe heads to College Park, Md., for a nationally-ranked dual with No. 43-ranked Maryland on Friday, March 3, at 4 p.m. W&M returns home to take on Western Michigan at the McCormack-Nagelsen Tennis Center beginning at 11 a.m.
 
Scouting the Tribe
The Tribe dropped both matches in South Carolina last week, falling at Charleston, 4-3, and at No. 21-ranked South Carolina, 6-1. After being ranked No. 39 in the first computer ranking of 2017, the Green and Gold was ranked No. 49 in the ITA national poll released on Tuesday. Against the Charleston, W&M swept doubles to take the initial lead in the match. Junior Maria Groener (No. 4) and freshman Rosie Cheng (No. 6) posted singles wins, but CofC claimed the other four spots, including a three-set win at No. 1, to pick up the win. For the third-straight match, the Tribe took the doubles point at South Carolina, thanks in large part to senior Marie Faure and sophomore Lauren Goodman's 6-4 upset of the No. 27 nationally-ranked Gamecock team of Hadley Berg and Paige Cline at the top spot. The Tribe duo owns three-straight wins and is 8-5 overall with a 5-2 ledger at No. 1. Faure enters the weekend, leading W&M in singles wins with 14 overall. Both Goodman and junior Ekaterina Stepanova lead the Green and Gold in terms of dual-match wins with five apiece toward the top of the lineup. Five of the Tribe's seven losses this season have come to teams inside the national top 30. The Green and Gold also owns a dominating 6-1 victory over current No. 23-ranked Dartmouth in Williamsburg on Feb. 18. With its match at Maryland on Friday, W&M has won seven straight against Big Ten competition dating back to the 2012 season. The Tribe was 3-0 against the league last season with wins over Penn State, Wisconsin and Illinois.
 
Scouting Maryland
Maryland is off to the best start in school history at 6-0 following a 5-1 win over Penn on Feb. 25. The Terps are also 1-0 in the Big Ten after knocking off Purdue on the road, 5-2, on Feb. 19. Maryland debuted in the first computer rankings of 2017 at No. 42 and is currently ranked No. 43 nationally in the poll released on Tuesday. The Terrapins and Tribe have two common opponents in West Virginia and Richmond. Both teams posted wins over the programs. W&M tallied a 7-0 win over WVU and a 6-1 victory against the Spiders, while the Terps handed the Mountaineers a 4-2 setback and UR a 7-0 sweep. During its 6-0 start, Maryland has won the doubles point on five occasions. The Terps top team of Alexandra Stanova and Kristina Hovsepyan were ranked No. 1 in the Atlantic Region after winning the region's doubles championship during the fall. The pair is 14-7 overall and 4-0 at the top spot. Stanova, who is ranked No. 17 in the Atlantic Region, holds down the top singles post. She is 13-5 overall and 5-1 at No. 1. Ekaterina Tour is rated No. 14 in the Atlantic Region in singles and is 5-0 between the No. 2 and No. 3 singles positions for Maryland.
 
Series History: W&M vs. Maryland
W&M leads the all-time series with Maryland at 26-5, including a 7-2 mark in College Park. The team's last met in 2015 when the Tribe tallied a 5-2 triumph over the Terrapins in Williamsburg. The last meeting in College was a 4-3 Tribe win in 2013. W&M has won 19 of the last 21 meetings in the series dating back to 1987.
 
Scouting Western Michigan
Western Michigan enters the weekend at 5-5 having lost its last three matches. Two of those three losses came to Big Ten foes in Michigan State, 6-1, on Feb. 23 and Iowa, 4-3, on Feb. 11. The Broncos dropped another 4-3 decision during the run, falling at Marquette. Four of WMU's five wins have come at home with its lone road victory being a 5-2 win at Cleveland State. Western Michigan also dropped 7-0 decisions at Notre Dame and Indiana in January. Melina Lyubomirova is the Broncos' No. 1 player, owning a 13-8 overall mark and a 6-3 mark at No. 1. She is a team-best 7-3 in dual-match competition. Tracy Kuhle is a returning Second Team All-MAC selection from last season and is 5-5 in dual-match play at the top three singles spots. Barbare Eristavi is a team-best 17-5 overall in singles and owns a 6-4 record at the bottom three positions. WMU has claimed the doubles point in six of its 10 matches this season. Eristavi and Lyubomirova are 2-1 recently at No. 1 doubles for the Broncos, while Lyubomirova has also teamed with Kuhle to go 7-6 in pairs play. The team of Denise Azcui and Olivia Myers are 4-1 in doubles at the No. 2 position.
 
Series History: W&M vs. Western Michigan
Sunday marks the first meeting between the Tribe and Broncos. It will be the first match for the Green and Gold against an opponent from the Mid-American Conference.