WILLIASMBURG, Va. – The No. 42 William & Mary women's tennis team punctuated the end of the regular season with 7-0 Senior Day win over in-state rival VCU on Sunday afternoon at the McCormack-Nagelsen Tennis Center. After capturing the doubles point, the Tribe (14-9) honored its senior quartet of Maria Groener, Ekaterina Stepanova, Olivia Thaler and Cecily Wuenscher for its contributions to the program, including each of the last three Colonial Athletic Association Championships. W&M closed out the match by taking all six singles matches in downing VCU (13-5) for the second-straight season.
 
The Tribe set the tone early jumping out to commanding leads at all three spots on the way to dominating victories at No. 1 and No. 3. Teaming together for the first time, Wuesnscher and junior Clara Tanielian dropped just one game in rolling to a 6-1 victory over Sofia Sualehe and Melissa Ifidzhen at No. 3 doubles. Junior Lauren Goodman and sophomore Natalia Perry moved up to the top doubles post for the first time and handed the VCU tandem of Anna Rasmussen and Kanako Yano a 6-2 defeat to clinch the initial point of the match.
 
Thaler made it a memorable Senior Day posting her team-best 24th singles win of the year to increase the lead to 2-0. She routed Sualehe, 6-1, 6-1, at No. 6 for her  68th career singles win. Sophomore Rosie Cheng, who is ranked No. 123 nationally, finished almost simultaneously to Thaler with her ninth win at No. 1 over VCU's Anna Rasmussen, 6-1, 6-2.
 
Like she did in doubles, Perry provided the clincher, upending Marina Alcaide Bakkari, 6-1, 6-3, at No. 3. It was her fifth clinching victory of the year and her third in the Tribe's last five matches. 
 
Tanielian and Stepanova both notched straight-set wins at No. 2 and No. 5, respectively, before Goodman closed out the sweep with a three-set victory at No. 4. Stepanova notched her fifth win in a row thanks to a 6-4, 6-3 win over Kanako Yano, while Tanielian won her 23rd singles match of the season, downing Paola Delgado, 6-4, 6-4.
 
Goodman claimed the opening set at No. 4 by a 6-3 score, but VCU's Noumea Witmus rallied behind a 7-5 triumph in the second. The Tribe junior pulled out the third-set super tiebreaker, 10-8, for her 19th victory of the season.
 
Notes
The Tribe won its second straight against former CAA counterpart VCU, improving to 40-11 all-time and 21-4 in Williamsburg vs. the Rams … The win marked the first time that the Tribe handed VCU a 7-0 setback … Senior Cecily Wuenscher teamed with junior Clara Tanielian for the first time in doubles with a win at No. 3 … It was Wuenscher's ninth doubles win of the year and 27th of her Tribe career, while Tanielian picked up her 14th pairs win of the season … Junior Lauren Goodman and sophomore Natalia Perry moved up to the top doubles spot and improved to 7-3 on the year to clinch the initial point … W&M captured the doubles point for the 10th time this season and fourth time in the last five matches … Senior Olivia Thaler posted her team-leading 24th singles win and 68th of her Tribe career … She is a team-best 14-9 in dual-match play and 10-5 at No. 6  …  Sophomore Rosie Cheng upped her season ledger to 16-15 with her ninth win at No. 1 … Perry posted her fifth clinching win of the year and third in the last five matches with a win at No. 3 singles … She pushed her singles ledger to 22-15 overall and 12-9 in dual-match play … Senior Ekaterina Stepanova won her fifth match in a row as she ran her record to 6-1 at No. 5 with her 11th dual-match win of the year … Goodman evened her record at 5-5 on the four line and improved to 19-15 overall and 13-10 in duals … Tanielian won her 11th dual-match of the year and fourth at No. 2, while pushing her singles ledger to 23-13.
 
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.
 
#42 William & Mary 7, VCU 0
Singles
No. 1 - #123 Rosie Cheng (W&M) def. Anna Rasmussen (VCU) – 6-1, 6-2
No. 2 – Clara Tanielian (W&M) def. Paola Delgado (VCU) – 6-4, 6-4
No. 3 – Natalia Perry (W&M) def. Marina Alcaide Bakkari (VCU) – 6-1, 6-3
No. 4 – Lauren Goodman (W&M) def. Noumea Witmus (VCU) – 6-3, 5-7, 10-8
No. 5 – Ekaterina Stepanova (W&M) def. Kanako Yano (VCU) – 6-4, 6-3
No. 6 – Olivia Thaler (W&M) def. Sofia Sualehe (VCU) – 6-1, 6-1
Finishing Order: 6, 1, 3*, 5, 4, 2
 
Doubles
No. 1 – Goodman/Perry (W&M) def. Rasmussen/Yano (VCU) – 6-2
No. 2 – Cheng/Thaler (W&M) vs. Delgado/Witmus (VCU) – DNF, 4-4
No. 3 – Tanielian/Wuenscher (W&M) def. Ifidzhen/Sualehe (VCU) – 6-1
Finishing Order: 3, 1*