WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – The William & Mary men's tennis team hosts in-state foe and former CAA counterpart VCU in a midweek match-up on Wednesday, April 12. The Green and Gold welcomes the Rams to Williamsburg for its penultimate regular-season match at 3:30 p.m. The contest will be held at the Millie West Tennis Facility, weather permitting.  
 
Scouting the Tribe
The Tribe, which sits at 9-9 on the year, split its matches last week against East Carolina and Middle Tennessee. The Green and Gold upended the Pirates, 6-1, on Friday, before falling to the Blue Raiders in a marathon of a match, 4-3, on Saturday. Senior Aidan Talcott and juniors Christian Cargill and Lars de Boer led the way during the week with a pair of singles victories apiece. Against ECU, W&M captured the doubles point with victories at No. 1 and No. 2, including the clincher from senior Addison Appleby and sophomore Tristan Bautil at the top spot. The pair is 7-6 on the year and 3-2 at No. 1. In singles, Talcott (No. 1), Cargill (No. 2), junior Alec Miller (No. 4), senior Damon Niquet (No. 5) and de Boer (No. 6) tallied straight-set victories. Talcott and Cargill were successful once again at the top two slots to give W&M a 2-1 lead over Middle Tennessee. de Boer posted his third-straight victory at the sixth spot to tie the match at three apiece, but the Blue Raiders notched a three-set win at No. 5 to pull out he narrow victory. With his two victories, Cargill pushed his win streak to four matches and improved to 10-5 at No. 2. Talcott has won three in a row and sits at 13-9 overall with a 9-6 mark at No. 1. Niquet continues to lead the Tribe with 15 singles wins, including a team-best 12-3 dual-match record, while Cargill leads the team with 15 doubles victories.
 
Scouting VCU
VCU enters Wednesday's match at 10-11 on the year. The Rams have dropped six of their last seven. VCU is 10-3 at home this season, but 0-7 on the road. In April, the Rams have suffered three-straight losses falling at UNCW, 4-1, before dropping 4-3 home matches last weekend to Middle Tennessee and Virginia Tech. Arvid Noren leads VCU with 17 singles win on the year and is an impressive 14-3 in dual-match play. Daryl Monfils holds down the No. 1 singles position at 13-9 overall with eight wins coming at the top spot, while Marten Jonsson owns 12 wins, including seven at No. 2. Jonsson and Monfils comprise the Rams top doubles team, which sits at 13-5 overall, 10-3 in duals and 8-3 at No. 1.
 
Series History: W&M vs. VCU
VCU leads the all-time series at 28-8, including a 9-4 mark in Williamsburg. The Rams have won the last five meetings between the teams with the latest match-up being a 4-1 win in Richmond last season. The Green and Gold's last victory over the Rams came in Richmond by a 4-3 score in 2010. Tribe head coach Jeff Kader led W&M to a pair of thrilling wins over VCU during his playing career. Kader and the Tribe snapped a 60-match CAA win streak by downing No. 7-ranked VCU, 4-3, in 2004. A year later, the Green and Gold snapped a streak of nine-straight CAA Championships by VCU with a 4-2 in the 2005 title match. Kader was named the Most Outstanding Player at the CAA Championship.
 
Up Next
The Tribe closes out the regular season on Easter Sunday, April 16, against Old Dominion. The match-up is slated for a 1 p.m. start time from the Millie West Tennis Facility. It will be Senior Day as the Tribe honors its quartet of seniors Addison Appleby, Ryan Newman, Damon Niquet and Aidan Talcott for their contributions to the program.