WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - The No. 50 William & Mary women's tennis team closes out the regular season on the road at in-state rival and former CAA foe VCU on Saturday afternoon. The Green and Gold makes the trip to Richmond for a 1 p.m., match at the Thalhimer Tennis Center.
 
Scouting the Tribe
W&M posted its 10th win of the season with a 5-2 victory over Old Dominion in its final home match on April 8. Between singles and doubles play, the Tribe honored its lone senior, Marie Faure, for her contributions for the program. The reigning ITA Atlantic Region Singles Champion, Faure posted wins in both singles and doubles to lead the Tribe past the Monarchs. Faure picked up her team-leading 19th singles win with a straight-sets victory at No. 2, while she teamed with sophomore Lauren Goodman to clinch the doubles point with a 6-3 win at the top spot. In singles, Faure is 35-21 over her two seasons with the Tribe and 76-38 overall with her first two season at Virginia. Goodman also posted the clinching singles win posting her 12th win of the year at the No. 5 spot. Juniors Ekaterina Stepanova and Olivia Thaler won in both singles and doubles as well. Combined, the tandem won its sixth straight at the No. 2 doubles post. Stepanova won her 14th match of the season and ninth at the top singles post, while Thaler won in three-sets at No. 6 for her 10th win of the season. The Tribe, which was ranked as high as No. 37 on March 7, remained in the national top 50 for the eighth-straight week. The Green and Gold owns a trio of wins over teams currently ranked in the top 50, downing No. 44 Maryland, No. 48 Dartmouth and No. 49 Harvard. Eight of the Tribe's 10 setbacks have come at the hands of top 40 competition, including losses to No. 12 South Carolina, No. 14 Duke, No. 25 N.C. State, No. 26 Wake Forest, No. 28 Notre Dame, No. 30 Kansas, No. 35 Rice and No. 38 Tulsa.
 
Scouting VCU
The Rams are 13-7 overall and 2-0 in Atlantic 10 play following a 7-0 win over George Washington on Sunday. W&M and VCU have seven common opponents in Rice, Old Dominion, Maryland, Elon, Dartmouth, West Virginia and James Madison. The Tribe went 6-1 against the group, while the Rams were just 3-4. The notable differences were Green and Gold wins over Maryland, West Virginia and Dartmouth. The Rams have been ranked as high as No. 42 nationally on Feb. 28 and spent four weeks in the poll with the last being ranked No. 50 on March 14. Janina Braun holds down the top singles post for the Rams as she sits at 21-7 overall. Braun is an impressive 15-4 in dual-match play with 10 wins at No. 1. Darya Berezhnaya is second on the team in singles wins with a 20-5 record, including a standout 13-1 ledger in duals. Anna Rasmussen is 16-7 in singles with a 9-1 mark at No. 2 singles. Braun and Rasmussen comprise VCU's top doubles team at 17-8 overall and 8-7 at No. 1.
 
Series History: W&M vs. VCU
The Tribe leads the all-time series with the Rams at 38-11, but VCU has won seven of the last eight contests, including each of the last three. W&M holds a slim 6-4 advantage in matches played in Richmond. VCU won the last meeting between the two teams, 6-1, in Williamsburg in 2014, and the last tilt in Richmond, 4-3, in 2013. The last Tribe victory in the series came in 2011 by a 4-3 score in Richmond.
 
Up Next
The Tribe returns to action when it takes part in the 2017 Colonial Athletic Association Championship, April 20-23. The event will be held at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center in Elon, N.C., for the second-straight year. W&M has won 24 CAA Championships, including crowns in three of the program's four seasons under head coach Tyler Thomson. The Tribe will more than likely be the No. 1 seed in the CAA Tournament and open play in the quarterfinals on Friday, April 21. The CAA Semifinals are set for Saturday, April 22, at 2 p.m., with the championship match on Sunday, April 23, at 2 p.m. The seeding for the CAA Championship will be released from the conference office early next week.