WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – Fresh off winning its season-opener for the fifth time in the last six years, the William & Mary women's tennis team will host a pair of top-25 opponents from last season in power conference foes North Carolina and Tennessee. The Green and Gold welcomes the No. 5 Tar Heels to the McCormack-Nagelsen Tennis Center on Saturday, Jan. 20, at 10 a.m., before hosting SEC counterpart Tennessee on Sunday, Jan. 21, at 11 a.m.
 
New to Tribe tennis in 2018, fans can watch the all action at the McCormack-Nagelsen Tennis Center via PlaySight. The advanced sports video and analytics technology provides fans with six fully automated HD cameras for live streaming. Both matches will be live streamed via PlaySight on TribeAthletics.com/TennisLive.
 
Scouting the Tribe 
The Tribe opened the 2018 dual-match season with 4-3 victory over Florida Atlantic on Monday. W&M dominated doubles action with convincing wins at No. 1 and No. 3. Junior Lauren Goodman and sophomore Rosie Cheng won their fifth-straight doubles match and improved to 7-1 with a victory at No. 1, while senior Cecily Wuenscher and sophomore Natalia Perry clinched the point with a triumph at No. 3. Seniors Ekaterina Stepanova and Olivia Thaler posted singles wins at No. 3 and No. 4 against the Owls. Thaler improved her season ledger to an impressive 11-3 mark.  Goodman, who upped her record to 7-5, clinched the victory for the Tribe with a win at No. 5 singles. Under head coach Tyler Thomson, the Tribe owns 17 wins against Power Five Conference opponents. Over the last fives years, the Tribe owns three wins over the SEC and five against the ACC. The Green and Gold also tallied 17 wins against nationally-ranked foes under Thomson, including a 6-4 mark in 2016. W&M owns top-30 wins over No. 19 Mississippi and No. 30 South Carolina in 2013, and a triumph over No. 28 South Carolina, who eventually went 9-4 in the SEC, hosted an NCAA Regional and finished the year at No. 17 in the national polls, in 2016.
 
Scouting #5 North Carolina
­The Tar Heels enter the 2018 season ranked No. 5 in the country, which is the same spot that they finished 2017. UNC went 33-3 a season ago, winning both the ACC regular season and tournament championships, before falling in the NCAA Quarterfinals. The Tar Heels' lineup features five nationally-ranked singles players, including four in the top 40, and four nationally-ranked doubles teams. Freshman Alle Sanford, who is 13-3 on the year, leads the way for UNC at No. 9 in the country and during the fall won the Oracle ITA Masters Championship. Sophomore Makenna Jones went 10-2 during the fall and is ranked No. 11 nationally. Jessie Aney is No. 18 in the country followed by Sara Daavettila at No. 38 and Chloe Ouellet-Pizer at No. 124. In doubles, Aney and Alexa Graham, who own a 7-2 record, are ranked No. 18 nationally, while Sanford and Daavettila are No. 37. The former beat the latter for the Carolina Region Championship during the fall. Ouellet-Pizer is ranked in doubles with two partners coming in No. 51 with Jones and No. 53 with Marika Akkerman.
 
Series History: W&M vs. North Carolina
W&M and North Carolina have met on 21 previous occasions with the Tar Heels holding a 14-7 advantage. UNC is 6-4 against W&M in Williamsburg. The last meeting between the two teams came in 2009 when the No. 18 Tar Heels tallied a 7-0 win as part of the ITA Kickoff Week in Williamsburg. W&M won four straight in the series between 1994 and 2000, including 8-1 victories in Williamsburg in 1994 and 1996.
 
Scouting Tennessee
Tennessee opens the season at Old Dominion on Saturday, before traveling to Williamsburg on Sunday. The Lady Vols are receiving votes in the ITA National Top 25 released on Jan. 17 after finishing last season ranked No. 24 in the country. In 2017, UT compiled a 19-12 mark, but was just 3-6 in away matches. Tennessee advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, before falling at Duke. Junior Sadie Hammond is a returning All-SEC selection for UT and was the 2016 SEC Rookie of the Year. Last season, she won 17 singles matches, playing at No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3. Sophomore Ariadna Riley led the team with 19 singles wins last season, playing at No. 3 and No. 4. During the fall, sophomore Gabby Schuck led UT with seven wins, while freshmen Chelsea Sawyer and Taylor McGiffin tallied six apiece. In doubles, Hammond and Schuck posted a 22-13 record with 19 wins at No. 2, including six in SEC play. The pair went 5-3 during the fall and advanced to the Ohio Valley Region Semifinals. Hammond and McGiffin are ranked No. 44 nationally in doubles in the poll released in November.
 
Series History: W&M vs. Tennessee
The Tribe and Lady Vols have split the all-time series at 5-5, and the teams will meet for the first time since 2004 on Sunday. W&M claimed a 4-3 win over No. 23 Tennessee as part of the ITA National Indoor Championship in 2004. Four of the 10 all-time meetings came in the national indoor championship. Tennessee travels to Williamsburg for the first time since a 5-3 win in the 2000 NCAA Tournament. W&M leads the series, 2-1, in Williamsburg with wins in 1985 and 1991.
 
News and Notes
• Head coach Tyler Thomson and current North Carolina head coach Brian Kalbas have a connection. Kalbas was the Tribe's head coach from 1992-2003, and Thomson spent four seasons as his assistant coach. Kalbas was inducted into the W&M Athletics Hall of Fame in April of 2015 after leading the programs to an incredible amount of success. In fact, Thomson and Kalbas led W&M to NCAA Quarterfinals in 1998.
• Junior Clara Tanielian, who transferred in from Miami, made a major impact during the fall. She led the Tribe with a 12-2 record and was ranked No. 68 nationally in the ITA singles rankings released in November. Tanielian, who missed the dual-match opener with FAU, closed out the fall being named the singles champion at the Kitty Harrison Invitational at North Carolina.
• Head coach Tyler Thomson and associate head coach Jesse Medvene-Collins were recognized last season for their efforts with the Green and Gold programs. Thomson was the VaSID State Coach of the Year and the W&M Alumni Association Coach of the Year in 2017. Medvene-Collins garnered the ITA Atlantic Region Assistant Coach of the Year for the second time in his five seasons at W&M.
• The Green and Gold enjoyed an exceptional week at the ITA Atlantic Region Championships during the fall. W&M was the only program in the region to advance four competitors to the round of 16 with senior Olivia Thaler, junior Clara Tanielian, sophomore Rosie Cheng and freshman Vitoria Okuyama earning spots. Thaler upset No. 58-ranked Holly Hutckinson of ODU in the second round, while Cheng took No. 1-seeded and No. 34-ranked Rosie Johanson of Virginia to three sets. Tanielian upset a nationally-ranked counterpart on her way to the semifinals.
• The Tribe faces a loaded 2018 schedule, including home dates against nationally-ranked North Carolina, Tennessee, Maryland and Wake Forest. Among its 23 dual matches during the spring, the Tribe faces 10 major conference opponents, including four from the ACC, eight teams that finished the year in the national top 50 and eight that competed in the NCAA Tournament.
 
Up Next
The Tribe travels to Chapel Hill, N.C., to take part in the ITA Kick-Off weekend for the eighth time in the 10-year history of the event, Jan. 26-27. The Green and Gold faces Big Ten foe Illinois in the opening round at 10 a.m. on Friday, Jan. 26. Host North Carolina and Winthrop square off in the other match-up at noon. The championship and consolation match-up are set for 3:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Saturday.