WILLIAMSBURGA, Va. – The William & Mary men's tennis team jumps back into action this week to kick off the spring campaign. The Tribe heads to Charlottesville to face No. 17 Virginia in a dual match on Thursday, Jan. 17, at 6 p.m. before continuing on to Blacksburg to take part in the Virginia Tech Invitational, Jan. 19-21.
 
Live stats and video for the Virginia match will be available at VirginiaSports.com. Click HERE for the live stats link and HERE for video.
 
Scouting the Tribe
- The Tribe returns six letterwinners, including five that saw extensive action in the lineup during a strong 2018 campaign
- W&M finished last season ranked No. 73 nationally. It was the Tribe's highest end of the year ranking since 2008. The Green and Gold was also ranked No. 6 in the ITA Atlantic Region in 2018.
- In 2018, the Tribe was the top seed in the CAA Tournament for just the second time since 1998. W&M advanced to the league championship match for the second-straight season and third time in four years, before falling to UNCW, 4-2.
- The Tribe's three-member freshman class of Jack Kelly, Daniel Pellerito and Oren Vasser was ranked among the top recruiting classes in the country. The class received votes for the national top 25 classes by the Tennis Recruiting Network and was ranked the No. 16 group in the Mid-Major Class Rankings. It marks the second-straight top-25 mid-major class for the Green and Gold. Both Pellerito and Vasser were five-star recruits by TRN.
- All three incoming freshmen garnered top-35 United States Tennis Association (USTA) Junior Combined Boys 18 Rankings during their prep careers and won numerous National and Sectional USTA events in both singles and doubles. Pellerito was ranked as high as No. 16 by the USTA followed by Vasser at No. 25 and Kelly at No. 35.
- Sophomore Finbar Talcott tied for the team lead in singles wins last season with 18, including a team-best 13-9 dual-match mark.
- Junior Brenden Volk and sophomore Chen Ruo earned VaSID All-State Second Team honors in doubles a season ago. The pair was 9-3 as a team in dual-match play, finishing the year at the Tribe's No. 2 position.
 
W&M Fall Recap
- W&M closed out the fall season strong winning 19 of its 27 singles matches and seven total doubles contests in the three-day Tribe Invitational, facing players from Old Dominion, Penn, Cornell and Virginia.
- Sophomore Sebastian Quiros, who was 4-0 at the Tribe Invite, tied for the team lead with nine singles wins during the fall. Senior Michael Ruamthong posted a 9-3 singles ledger as well. Ruamthong won Flight E at the Spider Invitational in October.
- Junior Brenden Volk and freshman Oren Vasser led the Tribe with a 9-5 doubles record during the fall. Highlighting their effort, the pair advanced to the quarterfinals of the ITA Atlantic Region Championship, including an upset over the No. 16-ranked Virginia Tech team. It marked the highest-ranked doubles win for a W&M duo since 2011.
- At the Davis Cup-style Farnsworth Invitational at Princeton, Oct. 5-7, the Tribe tandem of Qurios and freshman Daniel Pellerito won four matches to claim the Black Draw. Both players went 3-1 in singles action, and they combined to go 3-1 in doubles. The Tribe twosome defeated the Princeton pair of Noah Agarwal and Kabir Sarita in the finals thanks to a doubles victory and Quiros' straight-sets singles win over Agarwal.
 
Scouting #17 Virginia
- Virginia, which has won four of the last six national championships, is ranked No. 17 nationally in the first ITA National Ranking of 2019. The Cavaliers are in their second season under head coach Andres Pedroso.
- Last season, UVa finished the year ranked No. 41 nationally with a 14-13 overall record and a 6-8 ACC mark. The Cavaliers advanced to the second round of NCAA Tournament before falling to Columbia.
- Gianni Ross (No. 38) and Ryan Goetz (No. 54) both earned national singles rankings following the fall season. Ross compiled a 7-4 record, while Goetz was 11-6 and was the runner-up in the ITA Atlantic Region Singles Championship.
- Both Carl Soderlund and Aswin Lizen returns after earning All-ACC honors last season. Soderlund was ranked No. 9 in singles during the preseason and earned All-ACC First Team honors in 2018, while Lizen was a second team pick and rated No. 23 in the preseason.  
- Virginia added freshman Brandon Nakashima to the roster in January. He is ranked as the No. 5 junior player in the world.
 
Series History: W&M vs. Virginia
- UVA leads the all-time series with W&M at 33-1, including a 16-0 mark in Charlottesville.
- The teams will meet for the first time since 2015 when then-No. 4 UVa tallied a 7-0 win over the Tribe.
- The Tribe's lone victory in the series came in 2002 by a 6-1 score.
- Head coach Jeff Kader was a freshman for the Tribe when it upset No. 54 Virginia in 2002. He posted the clinching victory at No. 3 singles.
 
Virginia Tech Invitational  
- The Tribe joins the host Hokies, Middle Tennessee and Penn State competing in the Virginia Tech Invitational. The event kicks off on Saturday, Jan. 19, and runs through Monday, Jan. 21.
- The individual winner will be decided based on points. In singles, a victory at No. 1 earns a player eight points down to a victory at No. 8 giving a player one point. In doubles, a win at No. 1 is worth six points followed by four points at No. 2 and two points at No. 3.
- The Tribe will play at 2 p.m. every day of the event and face one opponent each of the three days.
- Each match will start with four doubles contests with singles to follow.

Virginia Tech Invitational Schedule
Saturday, Jan. 19
W&M vs. Middle Tennessee – 2PM

Sunday, Jan. 20
W&M vs. Penn State – 2 PM

Monday, Jan. 21
W&M vs. Virginia Tech – 2 PM