WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – The William & Mary women's tennis team travels to the Midwest for a pair of matches against teams that participated in the NCAA Tournament a season ago. The Green and Gold treks to Lawrence, Kan., to meet No. 24-ranked Oregon on Saturday, Feb. 17, at 12:30 p.m., before meeting Big 12 counterpart Kansas on Sunday, Feb. 18, at 1 p.m. Live video and stats will be available for both matches as well.  
 
Scouting the Tribe
The Tribe enters the week on a four-match win streak following a come-from-behind 4-3 triumph over Big Ten foe Maryland on Feb. 10. W&M owns a 5-3 record, including a pair of Power Five Conference wins adding a victory over Boston College to the Terps triumph. In total, the Tribe owns 19 wins over Power Five Conference competition in head coach Tyler Thomson's six seasons. In the win over Maryland, junior Lauren Goodman (No. 5) and senior Olivia Thaler (No. 6) continued their winning way with straight-set triumphs to flip the lead in favor of the Green and Gold. Goodman is a team-best 6-2 in dual-match play and has won five-straight matches, while Thaler leads the team with 15 singles wins overall and owns a four-match win streak. The W&M-Maryland tilt came down a four three-set matches at the top four spots. Sophomore Natalia Perry won her fourth straight, rallying for a three-set win at No. 4, before classmate Rosie Cheng added the come-from-behind clincher at No. 1. Cheng, who was named the CAA Player of the Week for the second time this season on Wednesday, garnered her first career national ranking on Feb. 7, coming in at No. 68 in the country. Junior Clara Tanielian gave W&M a pair of nationally-ranked singles players, garnering the No. 120 spot. 
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Scouting Oregon
The Ducks, which moved into the national top 25 at No. 24 on Wednesday, are 5-2 on the season following a 4-3 upset win over No. 23 Northwestern last week. Oregon takes on Kansas on Friday, before meeting the Tribe on Saturday. Both Ducks' losses have come to teams in the national top 10 in No. 6 Pepperdine, 4-0, and No. 7 Georgia Tech, 5-2. In the win over Northwestern, UO rallied from a 3-1 deficit and totaled four singles victories in downing the Wildcats. The Ducks posted straight-sets wins from Julia Lilien and Paiton Wagner at No. 5 and No. 6, respectively.  Alyssa Tobita (No. 1) and Shweta Sangwan (No. 2) notched three-sets wins at the top two spots against NU. Tobita is 4-1 at No. 1, while Sangwan owns a 4-0 mark at No. 2 and has a pair of nationally-ranked wins. In doubles, the Ducks have a pair of nationally-ranked teams, and Sangwan is part of both. She is No. 10 in the country with Tobita and No. 56 with Julia Eshet. Sangwan and Tobita are 12-5 on the year and 3-4 at No. 1.
 
Series History: W&M vs. Oregon
The Tribe and Ducks meet for the first time on Sunday in Lawrence, Kan. Oregon is the ninth current member of the Pac-12 that W&M has faced. The Tribe owns five wins over the Pac 12 and will look for its first win over the conference since 1999.
 
Scouting Kansas
The Jayhawks, who are receiving votes in the ITA National Top 25, enter the weekend at 2-2 and will face Oregon on Friday, before squaring off with the Tribe on Sunday. Kansas owns wins in its last two matches against No. 18 Arkansas and N.C. State. KU opened the season with losses at No. 10 Michigan, 6-1, and No. 14 Ohio State, 4-1. In the win over Arkansas, Anastasia Rychagova (No. 1), Despoina Vogasari (No. 2), Nina Khmelnitckaia  (No. 4) and Maria Toran Ribes (No. 5) posted singles wins for the come-from-behind 4-3 win. Rychagova, Kmelnitckaia and Ribes factored into the 4-3 N.C. State win along with Janet Koch at No. 3. In the latest singles rankings, Rychagova came in at No. 2 in the country. She is 12-2 overall on the year and was ranked No. 1 in the country earlier this season. The trio of Koch, Vogasari and Khmelnitckaia entered the spring in the ITA National Top 125 in singles at No. 90, No. 94 and No. 112, respectively.
 
Series History: W&M vs. Kansas
The Tribe holds a slim 4-3 advantage in the all-time series, but Kansas won the most recent match-up, 4-2, in Williamsburg last season. W&M makes its first trip to Lawrence since 1998 when No. 27 KU downed the Green and Gold, 5-3. Each team owns a win in the series at Kansas, including the Tribe's 4-3 win over No. 25 Kansas in 1996.
 
Up Next
The Tribe returns to the McCormack-Nagelsen Tennis Center for a Sunday, Feb. 25, doubleheader. The Green and Gold hosts Georgetown at 11 a.m., before welcoming Richmond to Williamsburg at 4 p.m. Fans can watch the live stream of both W&M home matches via PlaySight at TribeAthletics.com/TennisLive.