WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – Fresh off a season opening win on Tuesday, the William & Mary women's tennis team travels to Charlotte, N.C., to take on reigning Big South Champion Winthrop for the second year in a row on Sunday, Jan. 20. The match-up of conference champions is set 11 a.m. from the Life Time Athletic Fitness Club (11220 Golf Links Drive) in Charlotte.
 
Scouting the Tribe  
- The Tribe opened the 2019 campaign with a convincing 6-1 win over in-state foe Richmond on Tuesday. W&M improved to 36-3 all-time in home openers and won its opener for the fifth-straight season.
- W&M won its debut under first-year head coach Toni Bickford, who took over the Tribe after 16 years in the collegiate rankings including the last seven as the associate head coach at Old Dominion. The 10th Tribe head coach in school history, Bickford became the sixth to open her career with a victory.
- The Tribe swept doubles against the Spiders. The pairs of junior Rosie Cheng and senior Clara Tanielian at No. 1 and junior Natalia Perry and freshman Mila Saric at No. 3 teamed together for the first time in posting wins. Senior Lauren Goodman and junior Charlotte Madson improved to 2-1 on the year with a victory at No. 2. 
- In her collegiate debut, Saric did not drop a game at No. 6 in picking her first collegiate dual-match win and fifth overall on the year.
- Cheng (No. 1), Perry (No. 2) and Tanielian (No. 3) picked up victories at the top three singles posts. The trio played those spots in the 2018 NCAA Tournament. Tanielian won her fifth-straight dual-match, while Cheng won her fourth in a row. Perry tallied her team-leading seventh victory.
- Madson clinched the Tribe's win over Richmond win with a triumph at the No. 5 spot. It was her first career dual-match win.
- Cheng returns to the Tribe lineup after being named the CAA Player of the Year and ITA Atlantic Region Player to Watch in 2018. Perry was an All-CAA First Team pick as well, and Tanielian earned second team all-league honors last season. Goodman is a three-time All-CAA pick during her Tribe career.
- Last season, the Tribe was ranked No. 2 in the ITA Atlantic Region to cap the season, which was its highest regional ranking since 2008.  The Green and Gold was ranked in the top 50 to end the year for the third time in the last four seasons coming in at No. 45 in 2018.
- W&M has won 26 of the 34 all-time CAA Championships, including each of the last four. Every player on the Tribe roster has won the league title during each of their seasons on campus.

Scouting Winthrop
- The Eagles will open the 2019 dual-match season against the Tribe. Last season, Winthrop won its 20th Big South Championship and finished the year with a 20-5 record.
- Winthrop picked up its first NCAA Tournament win upsetting No. 21 Auburn, 4-3, in the opening round of the event last season. It was the Eagles 16th NCAA Tournament appearance.
- The Eagles were named the preseason favorite to win the Big South for the 16th straight year. Winthrop was the unanimous pick this season.
- Winthrop returns its top three singles players from last season and each of its top two doubles teams.
- Lauren Proctor and Megan Kauffman earned All-America honors last season in doubles and enter the spring season ranked No. 22 nationally. The pair won 24-straight matches last season before falling in the NCAA Quarterfinals.
- Proctor is currently ranked No. 66 nationally in singles and is the three-time Big South Player of the Year. She was ranked No. 26 during the preseason in singles.
- Along with Proctor, Alisa Soloveva earned All-Big South First Team honors for the second-straight season in 2018.
- Kauffman and Tayla Van Eck return to the Eagle lineup after earning All-Big South First Team honors in doubles last season.
 
Series History: W&M vs. Winthrop
- W&M leads the all-time series with Winthrop at 2-1 following the Tribe's 4-2 win last season during the ITA Kick-Off Weekend in Chapel Hill, N.C.
- The Tribe also downed the Eagles, 7-0, in 2007, while Winthrop won an ITA Kick-Off Weekend match over the Tribe, 4-3, in Gainesville, Fla., as part of the 2011 event.
- Last season after Winthrop won the doubles point, the Tribe won four of the five completed singles matches to take the win. Lauren Goodman won at the No. 4 post, Vitoria Okuyama picked up a victory at No. 6, and Rosie Cheng upset No. 15 -ranked Lauren Proctor at the top spot.
 
Up Next
- The Tribe travels to Athens, Ga., to take part in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend, Jan. 25-26. The Green and Gold will compete in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend for the ninth time in the last 11 years.
- W&M is the No. 3 seed and will face No. 2 seed Kansas State in the opening round on Friday, Jan. 25, at 10 a.m.
- The host and No. 5-ranked Georgia meets South Florida in the other first round match-up on Friday at 2 p.m.
- The consolation (10 a.m.) and finals (2 p.m.) of the regional are set for Saturday, Jan. 26, with the winner advancing to the ITA National Indoor Championship, Feb. 8-11, at the Nordstrom Tennis Center and Seattle Tennis Club in Washington.