WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – Winners of three in a row and fresh off a season-high national ranking, the William & Mary women's tennis team closes out the regular season with a pair of matches against in-state foes. The Green and Gold travels to No. 47 Old Dominion on Friday, April 13, in a match-up of top-50 foes at 4 p.m., before hosting VCU on Sunday, April 15, for Senior Day. The Tribe will honor its four-member senior class of Maria Groener, Ekaterina Stepanova, Olivia Thaler and Cecily Wuenscher between singles and doubles during its 1 p.m. match with the Rams.
 
Scouting the Tribe
The Tribe enters its final two regular season tilts, riding a three-match win streak. The Green and Gold, which moved up to No. 42 nationally on Tuesday, started the streak with a 4-3 upset of No. 19 Wake Forest on Monday. It was the program's second top-50 win in 10 days, and W&M's highest-ranked win in six seasons. The Tribe closed out the week with a doubleheader sweep of CAA foes, downing James Madison, 5-2, and Towson, 6-1, to likely sew up the top seed in the conference tournament. The victory over the Dukes was W&M 32nd in a row. In the win over JMU and Towson, seniors Olivia Thaler and Ekaterina Stepanova and junior Lauren Goodman posted a pair of singles. Sophomore Rosie Cheng won at the top spot against JMU, while junior Clara Tanielian tallied a victory at No. 1 in the triumph over Towson. For her efforts over the weekend, Goodman was named the CAA Player of the Week for the third time in her career. She also teamed with sophomore Natalia Perry to earn the CAA Doubles Team of the Week honor after the pair clinched the initial point of the JMU match with a win at No. 2 doubles. Thaler continues to lead W&M in singles wins with 23, including 13 in dual-match play, and is closely followed by Tanielian with 22 and Perry with 21. Cheng moved back into the national singles rankings on Tuesday at No. 123 in the country. The Tribe appeared in the national top 50 for the sixth time in the last seven weeks. In total, the Green and Gold schedule includes 11 matches against top-50 foes. Along with its pair of wins over Wake Forest and Princeton, all eight W&M losses this season have come to teams in the national top 50, including setbacks to No. 1 North Carolina, No. 14 Illinois, No. 17 Kansas, No. 21 Virginia, No. 30 Oregon, No. 31 Tennessee, No. 36 Kansas State, and No. 43 Rice.
 
Senior Salute
Sunday will be the final home match in the careers of Maria Groener, Ekaterina Stepanova, Olivia Thaler and Cecily Wuenscher. The group has led W&M to a record of 61-33 over the last four seasons with 15 wins over nationally-ranked opponents and 13 over Power Five Conference teams. The class has won a CAA championship and advanced to the NCAA Tournament in each of its seasons on campus. They would become the first Tribe class to win four CAA titles since the Class of 2000 if they can win the tilt next week at Elon.  
 
Maria Groener (Oslo, Norway)
A two-time All-CAA doubles selection … Named an ITA Scholar-Athlete on three occasions … A three-time W&M Provost Award winner … Owns career records of 49-35 in singles and 39-27 in doubles … Posted 20 singles wins as a freshman and led the Tribe in doubles wins as a sophomore with a 15-9 record.
 
Ekaterina Stepanova (St. Petersburg, Russia)
Played her final two seasons at W&M after transferring from Wisconsin … Named First Team All-CAA and VaSID All-State in 2017 … A two-time CAA Player of the Week and three-time Doubles Team of the Week honoree during her career … Owns 60 career singles wins and 46 career doubles victories, including 25 singles wins and 17 doubles wins at W&M.
 
Olivia Thaler (Miami, Fla.)
A First Team All-CAA selection in her career and the 2015 CAA Rookie of the Year … Won the W&M Provost Award during each of her four seasons and is a three-time ITA Scholar-Athlete … Owns 67 singles wins and 49 doubles victories during her Tribe career … Leads W&M with a 23-11 singles record as a senior.
 
Cecily Wuenscher (London, England)
A W&M Provost Award winner during each of her four seasons … An ITA Scholar-Athlete honoree in 2016 and 2017 … Tallied 22 singles wins and 26 doubles victories during her Tribe career.
 
Scouting Old Dominion
The Monarchs have won eight of their last nine matches, including five in a row, entering Friday's match-up with the Tribe. ODU is 16-4 on the year and currently ranked No. 47 nationally. The Monarchs are 5-0 in Conference USA and 11-2 at home in 2018. W&M and ODU have five common opponents in FAU, Virginia, Tennessee, Georgetown and Richmond. The Monarchs are 4-1 against the quintet, while W&M was 3-2. The lone difference is ODU's win over Virginia. As a team in dual-match play, ODU is 85-20 in singles and 36-11 in doubles. Sophomore Holly Hutchinson is 11-7 primarily at the No. 1 spot, while junior Nataliia Vlasova owns a 15-2 mark at No. 2 and freshman Yulia Starodubtseva is 17-2 at No. 3. Seniors Adriana Rajkovic and Victoria Olivarez are both an impressive 14-2 in dual-match play primarily at No. 5 and No. 6. In doubles, Olivarez and Vlasova hold down the top spot and are 10-4 in dual-match play. Teaming together recently, the No. 2 team of Huchinson and Malenko is 6-0 and the No. 3 pair of Rajkovic and Starodubtseva is 5-0.
 
Series History: W&M vs. Old Dominion
W&M leads the all-time series with the Monarchs at 50-5, including a 15-2 mark in Norfolk. The Tribe has won three straight in the series, including a 5-2 triumph in Williamsburg last season. The 2018 meeting marks the 30th-straight season that the teams have met.
 
Scouting VCU
The Rams sit at 13-4 on the year and 1-0 in A-10 play entering the weekend. VCU is an impressive 7-1 on the road this season. The Tribe and the Rams have five common opponents in FAU, Maryland, Winthrop, George Washington and James Madison. W&M is 5-0 against the group and VCU is 4-1 with the notable different being the Tribe's victory over FAU. Anna Rasmussen is the Rams' top singles player going 10-4 at No. 1 and 14-5 overall. Paola Delgado leads VCU with a 15-8 singles ledger, including a 12-4 dual-match mark at the top two posts. Delgado and Noumea Witmus recently moved up to No. 1 doubles, and they sport a 9-5 recording, including a 6-5 ledger in duals.
 
Series History: W&M vs. VCU
The Tribe leads the all-time series with the Rams at 39-11, but VCU has won seven of the last nine contests. W&M snapped a three-match losing streak to the Rams with a 6-1 victory in Richmond last season. W&M holds a 20-4 advantage in the series in Williamsburg.

Up Next
The Tribe returns to action when it takes part in the 2018 Colonial Athletic Association Championship, April 19-22. The event will be held at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center in Elon, N.C., for the third-straight year. W&M has won 25 CAA Championships, including crowns in four of the program's five seasons under head coach Tyler Thomson. The Tribe will likely be the No. 1 seed in the CAA Tournament and open play in the quarterfinals on Friday, April 20. The CAA Semifinals are set for Saturday, April 21, at 2 p.m., with the championship match on Sunday, April 22, at 2 p.m. The seeding for the CAA Championship will be released from the conference office early next week.